The Other
by SoundGeare
Summary: Link is a seventeen year old orphan with a secret. He was cursed as a child to carry a bloodthirsty beast within him, a beast that might break free at any moment. After being driven out of town, he is befriended by Eldwin, an outcast whose secret may be even darker and more sinister than his own...
1. Link

Before I start this I want to give a warning. This is only loosely connected to the game. And by loosely I mean there is a character named Link, a character named Illia, plus a few more names I've borrowed from the Twilight Princess game. This is really an edited version of a story I started to post on FictionPress. But I quickly discovered that no one reads anything on that site and I don't any motivation unless someone is actually reading my story. So I hope you'll forgive me for this, but I have a really good feeling about this story and I don't want it to fade away because I never had the motivation to finish it.

For anyone who is interested in the story/my writing/or just plain loves me enough to actually read this. Thankyou! Thankyou so much I promise to make it interesting. Please just keep reading so I can keep myself writing.

* * *

The dead leaves crackled beneath his stumbling feet. Ahead of him, the forest seemed to stretch on forever. Far above him the canopy filtered the light, casting a dim atmosphere over the whole world.

And that is exactly what it would be like from now on. This forest, devoid of civilization, empty of familiar faces. This forest was his home now. Just him and the animals, and though he may look like them sometimes, he wasn't one of them.

He couldn't believe it all fell apart so fast. Just one slip up and his whole life was torn apart. Shredded before his eyes while he watched. Who knew, maybe he could have lived simply and contentedly until he died. But no, because of his damn curse, Link was an outcast. Thrown out of his own village and there was no way he could ever go back now.

He screamed as loud as his lungs will let him. Rushing against a nearby tree he threw a single balled up fist against the thick brown bark. His knuckles cracked painfully as the tree shuddered and swayed. A few loose leaves fell from the distant branches, joining the legions of their fallen comrades.

There was a drop of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He pulled his hand from the tree to wipe it away. Seeing the crimson stain there on his hand, it brought back the memories of what happened before.

He couldn't control himself when it happened, it controlled him. He had no way to stop it from taking over, it just did. He'd never fully seen what he became, only bits and pieces of the beastly body. The long thick nails on the ends of his hands, thick and stained with blood. The hands themselves were pale and the skin leathery, veins popping out through the tight skin.

He couldn't control himself when it happened, and that was why he was here right now. Alone in the woods. He didn't even know where he was going, just wandering aimlessly, hoping he would drop dead here and now or that maybe, just maybe it was all a dream and he would wake up soon. But he had a long time to go, and it was all too real to be a dream.

He could still hear the screams, taste the hot blood in his mouth. Feel the soft flesh and brittle cloth being torn away by his teeth and claws. He could remember it all too vividly, especially the look of terror in his victim's eyes. He was a killer. He'd killed so many people. All of them in cold blood. And a thief too. He'd stolen people away from their families. Parents away from their children, children away from their parents. He was a monster.

But it wasn't him. Really, truly, in all but the most skewed sense of reality, that killer was something else entirely. Something had happened a long time ago, and that was why he was cursed. Cursed to change, to lead two lives in two bodies. One life was that of Link, just a kid really. Only seventeen.

But the Other, that was the burden he bore. The Other was what killed. The Other was what murdered all those people. It sickened him, it really did. But it had always been a part of him. Throughout all of his memories, even when he was a young boy.

Somehow he'd always thought he would learn to control it someday. Learn to rein in the beast and stop the killing. But it had never happened. Once he changed, once he become the Other, he lost everything. Everything that made him who he was. Everything that held him back and everything that pushed him forward. He became an animal. An animal whose primary urge was to hunt.

He didn't remember much of what happened, just that there was no going back. One minute he was lying in bed, exhaustion gripping his eyelids. The next thing he could remember, he was in the forest. There was an arrow in his shoulder and the wound was bleeding pretty badly.

He'd pieced together some of what happened, and it ate at him. He guessed that he transformed into the Other shortly after he fell asleep. Wandering the streets of the city, the Other attacked someone. But this time, it was clumsy and the victim called for help. Within seconds there were five or six people surrounding the Other. They chased it through the streets, the mob growing by the second. There were torches lit, and many weapons had been accumulated.

The Other knew that if the crowd caught up, it would be killed. So it kept running. Running, running all through the night. He guessed that the Other escaped, because he had woken up this morning in the forest with the taste of blood in his mouth.

At first he had thought about going back to the town, but soon his fears took hold. It must be at least eleven in the morning. What would they think if they chased a murderous humanoid thing into the woods last night, and this morning he returned inexplicably from the very same woods.

That was when he knew that he could never go back. They would know it was him. If they didn't know now, they would. And then they would probably kill him while he slept.

So here he was, alone in the woods. No one knew he was there, and being an orphan, no one cared enough to look for him. But he didn't know what he was going to do. He had nowhere to go.

Maybe he could just curl up here, wait for an animal or something to kill him. That would be fitting, he decided. So that's what he did. He stopped walking and sat down with his back against the nearest tree. Burying his face in his pink-with-blood hands, he waited.

Around him the forest was silent. Nothing moved. No birds were chirping, and no squirrels chattered. The wind wasn't even blowing. No sound at all, not even the gradual settling of dead leaves. He just sat there in the dead quiet and waited for his own death.

Offhandedly, he hoped it was painful, just to somehow atone for all the pain he had caused in the form of the Other.

"Well that's a morbid thought." A voice purred.

He jerked his head up, and found himself looking straight into a pair of emerald green eyes. Where had they come from? "What do you mean?" he asked flustered. How had she heard that? It was just a thought, inside his head.

"You whispered it to yourself just now."

He stood up and found himself standing next to a girl. Long black hair flowed over her shoulders framing a pale and smooth face with deep set eyes.

She was striking, enchantingly beautiful.

"Oh," he muttered, "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

She laughed and said, "The same thing as you I suppose. People like them don't like people like us. Even if we're really nicer than they think."

He averted his gaze, staring off into the distance instead of into her beautiful eyes. "I'm, "he started, "I'm not nice, not really. I seem nice, and I act nice, and I really am nice sometimes. But sometimes I'm not."

"Oh I know," She said, "I'm something of the same sort. Seem nice, act nice, but inside I'm really terrible." She finished with a little chuckle.

He was unsure of what to say so he remained silent.

"Why don't you come with me?" She said, "Just because they don't want us, doesn't mean we have to be lonely, does it?"

"I guess not."

"Excellent, "She said with a thrilled smile, "Let's go."

Before they had a chance to go anywhere though, Link began to speak again.

"I, uh, who are you?" he said, flustered.

"I'm Eldwin."

"Oh, my name's Link."

"Now that we're friends," She said with a silken voice, "You might as well stay with me. It gets pretty cold at night, and you don't want to get sick do you?"

Link just shook his head

With a smile, she took his hand and began to lead him off into the forest.

* * *

1/26


	2. Eldwin

Before I get this chapter started I want to send out a couple of thank yous. Thank you to everyone who is sticking with me, thank you to everyone who leaves reviews, and thank you to that wonderful beta who cleans up my silly mistakes.

* * *

Eldwin led Link through the forest. As they walked, he was able to observe the steady decay of the forest around them. The magnificent trees and variety of creatures gave way to a dead world.

Grey pillars filled the place. Some far off canopy filtered the light, casting a somber hue on the realm below. Leaves crackled beneath their feet, throwing off ominous noises like that of snapping bones.

Aside from the chilling sound of the leaves, there were none. No noises, no chirping, nothing. A completely still world, empty and desolate save for the two people immersed in it.

Then it burst to life.

All around them there were shades of green, red, orange. The plants seemed to thrive just beyond the border of that dead area. Each tree was covered in colorful leaves and the bushes were coated with flowers and fetal buds that seemed on the verge of blooming.

In this beautiful place, the crackling leaves seemed like music.

Though Link hesitated to break the place's spell, he finally spoke.

"What happened," he asked, "Why did they make you leave the town?"

At first she was silent, just looking ahead of them, admiring the foliage. "I, I'll tell you when we get to my house. It's not much farther."

So Link waited, instead inspecting the passing scenery. No matter how long he watched it, the forest here could never seem to lose his attention.

One aspect of the place escaped his enthralled gaze.

There were no animals to be seen.

* * *

Just as she had said, it was only about ten minutes before they discovered a small wooden hut. Smoke billowed from one of the chimneys and floated away in a rough grey pillar.

Eldwin led Link up to the front door, pushed it open then continued inside.

"No lock?" Link asked, intrigued by the lack of security.

"No need," she said simply, "No one comes this far out, and even if they did, I've got nothing worth taking."

"Oh."

Eldwin led him a few steps into the house before showing him to a small wooden table with a pair of chairs on either side. She sat down and Link took the chair opposite her.

"So," Link asked, "What happened? Why are you out here?"

Eldwin took a deep breath before beginning.

"It was a witch that started it all."

Link's breath stuck in his throat. His thoughts jumped back to the night he had been cursed. Cursed by a witch. In the dead of night when he was all alone, she came to him. Whispering in his ear though he couldn't see her anywhere. Promising him something that had seemed worth it at the time, but Link was never sure now.

"What're you thinking so hard about?"

With a jolt Link returned to the present, leaving behind his memories for the time being.

"Uh, nothing. Sorry, go on."

"Thanks. Well when I was young, the witch killed my parents."

Link's thoughts flitted back to his years spent in the orphanage.

He hadn't always lived there.

"I lived with some other family members for a while, but one night they disappeared. No one ever found out where they went. So after that I went to the orphanage."

"Me too," Link said, "I lived there since I was seven."

Eldwin's lips curved into a thin smile. "I was five."

Reflexively, Link matched her smile and something of a friendly air fell over them.

"Okay, you win" Link said, "But what happened after that? Why did they drive you out?"

"I killed people."

Link stared at her, perplexed. He couldn't imagine this girl killing a person or even hurting them in any way.

"You, killed people?" Link muttered with disbelief.

"Well, that's what they thought. I guess I was the only one who knew the truth."

"What was the truth?" Link asked.

"The witch again. It was always the witch. She killed people and led others to believe it was me. I woke up one morning with an angry mob outside the orphanage. Do you know what that's like?" she asked with a haunted look in her eyes. "I woke up and all I could hear was people demanding my head, or worse."

That had never happened to Link, but he had always expected it. Waited for it. Always known he would have deserved it.

"They didn't catch you, did they?"

"No," Eldwin looked down at the table and closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly. "No, they didn't catch me. When I heard them coming up the stairs, I panicked and climbed out the window. When they got there, it was like I just turned to smoke and disappeared. I left right after that, none of them ever saw me again."

"Wow," Link muttered, feeling the weight of the events as if they had been his own. They almost were his own, so similar in so many cases. Link realized that he had more in common with this girl than just their mutual exile.

"How long ago was that? How long have you been out here?"

Eldwin looked up at him, a slightly puzzled look in her eyes. Then it disappeared and she said, "It was, five years ago. I was twelve."

"You've been alone out here," Link said, "For five years? When was the last time you talked to someone? Had any kind of human company?"

"Years before that. I didn't get along with the other kids in the orphanage."

Neither had he, always on the edge of their world. That strange kid, the one who nobody talked to.

"But I've got a feeling that we'll get along," she said with a small smile.

"Yeah," Link said, "I think we will."

* * *

2/26


	3. Rusl

The cool morning air washed over Link, drawing him into consciousness. Climbing to his feet, Link stared around dumbly as he tried to remember where he was.

Once the previous day's memories returned to him, Link wondered if Eldwin was awake yet.

Instead of searching for her, Link headed outside. He decided to get a better look at the woods and explore the immediate area. However, when he left the building, Link found Eldwin sitting on a fallen log nearby.

As Link approached, the air seemed frigid and empty, silent and infinite.

She didn't seem to notice him and Link expected her to flinch or react similarly when he sat next to her. However, she didn't react at all. She just kept staring blankly into the forest.

Link looked over at her, trying to see through the flat expression. "Are you okay?" he asked, hesitant to break the silence.

For a moment it seemed Eldwin hadn't heard him, but then she responded with a shaky voice. "I was just… thinking. When I was young, the other kids used to pick on me."

"What do you mean?" Link asked, his thoughts racing, reliving the torment.

"Nothing much; just little things. Little things mostly, but they went too far sometimes."

"What was too far?" Link asked.

"There was this doll. It belonged to my mom. Before she… " Eldwin seemed to pause and redirect her thoughts, "She gave it to me. But a kid named Rusl took it from me and I never got it back. I tried to get it back but I never could. I know he still has it, but there's no way I could get it from him…"

For some reason, Link felt his mouth forming words out of its own accord. He felt horrified at what came out.

"I could get the doll back."

What was he saying? He couldn't go back to the town. Not now, not ever. How could he think even for a moment that it was possible? But he'd said it and all Link could do now was wait for Eldwin's response.

Link felt relieved as she turned to him with a horrified expression on her face that mirrored his own thoughts.

"You can't be serious," she said, "There's no way they'd let you back into the town."

Link began to relax, but his mouth kept moving, "I wasn't actually driven out. They don't know about it, yet."

Link urged himself to shut up, but for some reason he couldn't.

"Then why are you here?" Eldwin asked, confused, "If they didn't drive you out, then why did you leave?"

"I didn't want to be around if they made the decision to do more than drive me out. I didn't want to end up like you almost did."

"Oh," she muttered, then began to speak excitedly, "Does that mean you could actually go back? If you didn't attract too much attention to yourself, then you'd be able to do it."

Link's blood turned to ice as he listened to her formulate a plan.

However, he relaxed slightly as he realized that it might work.

* * *

Link walked out of the woods.

Each of the town's buildings seemed menacing. Link's heart was beating at a thunderous pace, threatening to break out of his chest. His pace was slow, as if he was walking to his death.

But as the familiar environment closed around him, Link began to lose the apprehension that had been building inside of him. His heart began to beat slower and the world seemed less ominous. The threat of impending danger seemed to fade away entirely.

In its place, there was nothing but his mission. It was simple. All he had to do was quietly find a way to Rusl's house and then take the doll. Eldwin had given him instructions on what to do if anything went wrong. What to do if he was discovered and the village turned on him. What to do if Rusl caught him as he prepared to take the doll. What to do if he couldn't find the doll.

Link knew exactly what to do; all he needed to do was get it done.

Link entered the village quickly and quietly, not drawing any attention to himself. He asked for directions to Rusl's house then proceeded to head that way. In a short amount of time, Link had reached the small house.

As he approached, Link saw a man leaving the house. He was walking away, leading a young boy who carried a fishing pole.

Link waited until the pair of them had disappeared before getting closer.

Once he was alone, Link approached the house and quickly disappeared behind it. There was a window in the back that Link discovered to be unlocked. He quickly slid the window open and snuck into the building.

The house was silent, the air still.

Link crept through the house despite his apparent isolation.

He snuck from room to room until he found what he was looking for: nursery with an infant child sleeping in a crib. Link was relieved to find a window in the room and exercised foresight by sliding it open.

He needed a clear path of escape should anything go wrong.

Link scanned the room, looking for a doll that matched the description Eldwin had given him. After a quick search, Link found the doll just where he had feared it would be.

The child in the crib was sleeping with its arms wrapped around a ragdoll, clutching it tightly with pudgy hands.

Holding his breath, Link froze. He wasn't sure if he would be able to steal from a child. He wasn't sure if he was able to steal at all, from anyone. What was he thinking by coming here? He couldn't do this. It was wrong.

But the doll had been stolen from Eldwin. It belonged to her, and he was getting it back for her. This wasn't a crime, he was righting a wrong. It couldn't be a crime.

Before Link's resolve faded, he quickly snatched the doll away from the child.

The baby looked up at him for a moment, its eyes full of fear and sadness. Link felt his heart shudder and he knew this was wrong. It didn't matter if the doll had been Eldwin's before. He couldn't steal from a baby, he just couldn't.

Link tried to return the doll, but suddenly the baby began to scream.

Link jumped back away from the crib. From the other room he heard movement and Link realized with a jolt of fear that he was not, in fact, alone.

His change of heart was forgotten and replaced with a primal fear. Link turned away from the crib and dove out the open window.

Once his feet hit the ground, Link started running and he didn't stop until he was far away from the house.

* * *

Link waded through the crowd of people. The stolen doll was shoved deep in his pocket, hidden from the world and from himself. He didn't want to think about what he had done.

But something still itched in him that they knew. That everyone knew what he had done. He knew that any moment they would recognize him for the monster that he was.

And they all knew. They all knew and they would all crash down on him with righteous fury any moment. Any moment the town would band together and destroy him. They would destroy him and be totally justified for doing it. Link had stolen from a child, an infant. How could he do this? How could he…

Link crashed into someone and was knocked off balance. He was torn away from his thoughts and thrust back into reality with a flurry of movement.

It took a moment for Link to fully register the impact, but then he immediately helped the girl to her feet. She began to apologize but Link interjected and said, "No it was my fault. I should've been watching where I was going."

She stared at him for a moment after that.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Link said, feeling anxious to get back to the forest.

"I feel like I've met you before, somewhere else. I'm Ilia, who're you?" she asked.

"I'm, uh, Link."

"Oh, well, hi Link," she let out a light laugh, "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too," Link said tensely. "I've really got to go."

"I'll see you around then, bye," she said cheerfully before disappearing back into the crowd.

Link stood where he was for a moment, slightly dazed by the encounter. Then he shook himself and continued his escape from the town.

Once he was concealed by the tree line, Link started to run back to Eldwin's house. Something in his head compelled him to get back to the small house as quickly as he could. It was inexplicable, but as he headed deeper into the forest, a pressure seemed to be lifted off of his body.

* * *

And now then there were three. And things only get more interesting from here on out. Be sure to keep reading and don't forget to leave a review.

And that's right, I went over my chapter planning and the story has been condensed into 19 chapters. While that will make it shorter, you won't have to deal with any 500 word chapters.

3/19


	4. Herbs

Link awoke to the instantly recognizable taste of coppery blood.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he tried to spit out the slick lifeless gore that coated his tongue and teeth. Looking down at the small patch of blood, watching as it mixed with the dry dirt, Link felt his own blood turn to ice.

Whose blood was it?

What had he done? Who had he killed?

A stab of fear entered his heart as the answer dawned on him, the only possible answer.

There was only one other person in the woods with him.

He couldn't have killed Eldwin, he couldn't have. Where would that leave him? Guilty of a crime he couldn't even remember committing.

But the evidence was visible in the corner of his eye, glistening wetly in the light. It just lay there, dead and still, begging Link to turn and look. To turn and see what he had done.

Link didn't want to look; he didn't want to look over and see Eldwin's mutilated corpse. He didn't want to see what he knew was there. It was too horrible.

But an itch in Link's mind grew into a need, and the need overcame his fear.

Link looked at the body lying prostrate beside him.

He let out a sigh of relief at the sight of a dead deer. It had been chewed and mangled. In several places the skin was missing to show spots where the raw meat had been torn away to leave horrific looking gaps in the deer's body.

Link didn't want to think of where the missing meat was, but his stomach twisted anyway, giving him the unwanted answer. He turned away from the corpse and headed off into the forest, trusting his instincts to guide him home.

* * *

He somehow found his way and was soon walking up to the small house. He opened the door and stepped inside only to be immediately confronted by a visibly shaken Eldwin.

"Link, where were you? I," she gasped, "I thought you were dead."

Her voice was trembling and her eyes were wide. "I-I saw this thing, and it was carrying something and I thought it was you…"

She leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close as if to convince herself he was real. "I'm so glad you're okay, I don't want to be alone again."

Link pulled her closer to him, trying to comfort her.

A pang of guilt swept through him. He had been responsible for putting her in this state. Even if the change wasn't his fault, he needed to tell her.

Link's thoughts raced back to the moment when he'd thought she was dead at his hands.

He needed to tell her, needed to warn her about what he was. He needed to keep her safe from himself.

"That creature, it couldn't have killed me."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confusion swimming in her eyes.

"It's the reason I had to leave the town," Link began, struggling with every word of the confession, "There's a monster inside of me, a witch put it there when I was young. Sometimes it… gets out."

"So that monster…" Eldwin said, the truth sinking in, "It was you?"

Link nodded.

"It's a curse, and I can't control it" Link sighed, "Just promise me that you'll stay away from me whenever I change. You'll stay inside, where it can't get you."

Instead of promising, though, Eldwin was silent as a spark of realization entered her eyes.

"A curse…" she muttered. Then suddenly she began to speak with a feverish quickness, "Link, my grandparents were herbalists! They could make a poultice from forest herbs that suppress the effects of a curse. I've got their book of herbs; we could try to cure you!"

The concept shocked Link. The very idea that he could be free of the Other. It was utterly alien to him.

"Are you serious?" Link exclaimed, his breaths shallow from excitement, "That's amazing!"

"Wait right here," Eldwin said, "I'll go get the book, then we'll go looking."

With that, she ran back into the house and disappeared in search of the book.

* * *

After Eldwin found the book, the pair of them went off in search of the rare ingredients necessary.

They wandered through the forest with Eldwin in the lead. Early on she had described the plants they were looking for so they could both keep an eye out.

At first the forest seemed familiar, but soon they were entering strange areas. The plants were strange and mysterious. Everything showed a vibrant hue of some sort be it purple, or red; it was all a mottled biotic canvas.

After a long time of walking, animals began to watch them.

A few squirrels perched high up in the trees, and several raccoons glaring mischievously from the bushes.

The colorful chirps of an assortment of birds could be heard, filling the air with a musical quality.

All seemed fine, except for the absence of the plants they hunted. Eldwin had said they were extremely rare, but some part of Link's brain had thought it would've been a quick trip anyways.

How hard was it to find a plant in a forest?

Very difficult, apparently…

As they progressed, the air seemed to grow thick around them. A pale sheet of vapor made it thick, heavy, and moist. It had been hours since they first set out and Link had no idea where they were. He was relying on Eldwin's knowledge of the forest to guide him

But as they walked, Link's thoughts moved away from the forest. They became as thick as the fog, filling his head with a hazy buzz. Each thought was sluggish and painful. His vision bobbed and swayed with each step, filling his stomach with a nauseous feeling.

Link's ears buzzed, quietly at first but the sound quickly grew to a deafening cacophony. His progress stopped as Link collapsed to the ground.

He lay there on his hands and knees, struggling to draw a breath. His eyes burned and it felt as if he might die.

Then his breath caught suddenly and his arms gave out. Link fell to the soft dirt below and blacked out before he made contact.

Link fell in to a motionless heap.

* * *

Link opened his eyes and his vision swam at first. Eventually he was able to discern Eldwin's face in front of him.

As his vision sharpened, he was able to see the concerned expression on her face.

Link tried to say something, but his voice was slurred and nearly unintelligible. However, Eldwin was able to understand the mumbles and she said, "I don't know what happened. You were behind me one minute, and the next you were gone."

Link reached a hand up slowly and held it against his head, trying to repress the pounding ache in his head.

"It felt like my body was just shutting down, "Link groaned as the pain began to fade away slowly, "I thought I was dead… until I woke up."

Eldwin muttered something then said, "Of course, it's the curse. It must be getting worse. I don't know what set it off, but we don't have time to find the herbs."

"What do you mean?" Link said, feeling frustrated despite the apparent worsening of his condition, "We've been out here for hours. You can't tell me we're not close."

Eldwin shook her head, "It would take days of this to find what we need. I told you it's rare."

Link sighed in defeat before asking, "So what do we do?"

"You'll have to go back to the village and try and buy the herbs there."

"We could've just bought the herbs!" Link exclaimed, "Then why did we waste all that time out here?"

"I don't know about you," Eldwin said, "But I don't have any money."

The realization struck Link and he felt defeated again, "Me neither, so what can we do?"

Eldwin was silent, the strain of her thinking visible on her face. After a few minutes, though, she seemed satisfied that she had an answer.

"When I came out here, years ago, I had some money with me. It would've been enough to buy the herbs you need, but it was stolen."

"Then how does that help us now?" Link asked, annoyed.

"I know where the thief is now. You could go take the money from him, and use it to buy the herbs."

Link nodded slowly "That could work. Who is he, and where is he?"

"He's a merchant now. He sells lantern oil in a different part of the forest."

Link listened as she explained the merchant's whereabouts in more depth. After Eldwin pointed him in the right direction, Link headed out in search of the thief.

* * *

As for the number of chapters, I have discovered I'm a bad judge of that. It went from 26 to 19, but it turns out I miscounted and it was actually 20. And this chapter is actually the first part of a longer chapter that I split due to its length. So at this point there are going to be 21 chapters if everything goes exactly according to plan. However, I might overshoot on the chapter length again and end up splitting a chapter or two in the future, so I have no idea. I'll just put my prediction at the end of every chapter.

I hope you are enjoying the story and will stick around. Leave me a review to let me know what you think.

4/21


	5. Ilia

Link crept through the cool silence of the woods. Shadows fell around him and the rest of the scene, muting the colors and casting an eerie hue in their place.

He followed an animal trail that led through the underbrush until he found himself standing among sparsely scattered trees.

Ahead of him, he could see a small hut that was set near a permanent fire pit.

Hanging from a tree, there was an arrow shaped sign with painted red letters that proclaimed: "Lantern Oil! This Way!"

Link followed the arrow's direction and walked up to the hut.

He was alone in the clearing and, at this discovery, Link approached the house itself. Without much thought of a complex plan, Link knocked on the door.

When no one answered, Link realized there was a small sign that hung from the door. It read: "I'll be back real soon."

Taking a deep breath, Link kicked the door. It shuddered and held, but his second attack nearly knocked it off its hinges.

With a third kick, the door snapped open and hung weakly from the wall.

Link stepped into the house and looked around. It was mostly empty except for a bed, a table, and a wooden chest in the corner.

Approaching the chest, Link opened it and peered inside. There were some drab colored clothes, and a small burlap sack in the corner.

Link opened the sack and confirmed its contents to be money.

After that he turned and left.

* * *

Link ran through the woods, branches catching at his clothes and skin.

He kept up at full speed through, feeling his heart thumping painfully quickly. Link knew he had long ago lost his pursuer, but the panic kept him going.

Just as he had exited the hut, Link saw a man coming down toward him along the path.

And the man saw him as well.

They locked eyes for a moment before Link took off into the thick woods to one side. He could hear the man yelling for him to stop, for him to come back.

When it became clear he would neither stop nor come back, Link heard the man leap into the underbrush behind him. For a while Link could hear the man clambering through the trees and bushes, but finally the sound was lost and Link was alone.

Link slowed his pace, succumbing to his rasping lungs and the worrying sounds coming from up ahead. Keeping low and trying desperately to suppress his ragged panting, Link approached the noise to investigate.

As he met the edge of the brush, Link was surprised by what he saw.

Three men, each wielding a long gleaming knife, and a girl stood in the center of the road. The men had formed a semicircle around the girl and were making growled threats and demands.

Suddenly one stepped forward and struck out with his knife. The girl flinched out of the way and narrowly escaped the blade. As she moved, Link caught a glimpse of her face and recognized her after a moment.

It was Ilia, the girl he'd met briefly during his foray into the town.

Stepping quietly, Link moved out of hiding and toward the trio of aggressors. He balled his hands into fists and silently thanked himself for stowing the sack of money in his backpack.

Then, in a flurry of motion, Link leapt forward and onto the closest man. Wrapping his arms around the man's head, Link jerked him backward and threw him to the ground.

Bringing one foot up from the ground, Link immediately stomped it back down on the man's face.

Looking up from the fallen man, Link found himself faced by the two remainders. Each held his knife threateningly, but the panic in their eyes betrayed them.

The one on his left darted forward, his knife out ahead of him, but Link managed to sidestep it and launched is balled up fist into the man's face. He skidded backward from the blow and tottered on uneven feet.

However, before Link could finish him off, the other man caught him off guard and moved in with dangerous intent.

Link felt the knife bite shallowly into his arm and he instantly pulled away from the source of the pain. His arm shot up to cup the wound as he faced the attacker. He was standing with the knife held out before him, his knees bent slightly and a hard, angry look in his eyes.

For a moment, Link wondered what would happen next. He couldn't think of a way to attack the man, who was watching him eagle-eyed and brandishing his weapon.

Then with a dull crack, Ilia brought the stick down on the man's head. In truth, the stick was more of a tree branch, and the man went down in a crumpled heap.

Link watched her step away from the man's unconscious body and sigh with relief. Looking up at him, she seemed to recognize him for the first time.

"Link, am I glad to see you again!" she exclaimed breathlessly," Thanks for helping me."

Her wide grin seemed to slip onto Link's face and he replied lightheartedly, "Anytime."

"You must be a real hero," Ilia said.

For a moment, Link's thoughts slipped back to his previous, more nefarious activities. A sick sense of irony slid over him, just for a moment. He, Link, who had just come from breaking into a man's house, was a hero.

But instinctively, he shoved the feeling down deep inside of him and said colorlessly, "Yeah, I guess so."

Overlooking his distraction, Ilia continued, "I was just going back to the town, you wouldn't happen to be going to same way, would you?"

Suddenly pulled out of the murky spiral his conscience had pushed him into, Link nodded slowly and said, "Yeah, I'm on my way there now."

"That's great, we could go together," Ilia proposed, "In case there are more bandits."

"Sure" was all Link said, and with those few words, they set off together.

* * *

Far above, the sun beat down mercilessly. What ground it touched became tough and dry. Lizards and other reptiles lay in those sunny spots, soaking the heat, while other warm blooded animals avoided them. Tall trees with heavy leaves stood at each edge of the road, casting shade over the hard packed road and sparing the two people from the harsh rays of the noonday sun.

They talked as they walked down the dusty road. Ilia's first question was about the altercation they had just been through, asking Link where he had learned to fight like that.

"When I was a kid," Link said, unconsciously painting the picture of his childhood, "There were bullies that wouldn't leave you alone without a fight. I tried to make sure I won."

"Bullies?" Ilia asked, ignorantly, "Where did you grow up? I've never seen any kids like that around here."

"I grew up at the orphanage," Link said, revealing the place where his childhood wounds festered.

"Oh," she said sadly, "What happened to your parents?"

"They… died when I was young."

"That must've been hard," Ilia said, "Growing up without your family."

"Not as much as you'd think. I was young; I didn't know them very well."

After that, Ilia was silent for a minute before continuing the conversation. To their mutual comfort, she was able to steer the conversation to a more pleasant topic. They discussed a few unimportant things, like weather or current events.

Link had to pretend to be horrified and suppress the chill on his spine as Ilia brought up the robbery of Rusl.

After that tangent fell to an end, she asked him where he lived, and why he was out in the woods in the first place. Link's surprise and panic were sudden and immense, but luckily, they didn't seem to be visible on his face.

"I'm… well…" Link began slowly, struggling to come up with some lie, "I've got a… a hut in the woods. Its small, but it's enough."

That seemed to pacify her.

Their conversation continued until they reached the edge of town. As they stood there underneath the gate, their paths parted and they paused a moment to say goodbye.

"Thank you, again, Ilia said, before leaning in quickly and planting a kiss on his lips. Then she turned around and said over her shoulder, "I'll see you around, Link," before disappearing into the village.

Link stood where he was, feeling stunned. He stared after her, feeling the faint residual pressure on his lips.

Underneath his skin, though, Link could acutely feel the burden of his curse. She seemed nice, and he always had the memory there to remind him that he wasn't. Sometimes he was a monster.

Faintly, Link felt as if he had tainted her, somehow, just by being near her. She was nice, and he was the monster under the bed; the beast in the fairytale.

Link was the dark thing, the other, and he had no right to corrupt her into even enjoying his presence. It would be like a sin to do that, because he was evil incarnate, if that was possible.

* * *

Link stumbled through the woods, one hand wrapped around the bag of herbs and the other pressed painfully against his throbbing forehead.

After pausing at the gate for a while, Link had quickly found the herbs and traded rupees from the oil merchant's sack for them. However, starting from the moment he left the gate, Link's mind began to feel broken and muddled.

His head hurt, a sharp pain stabbing him with each step. And his thoughts seemed fuzzy, incomplete and too quick to interpret. They were racing inexplicably, and so was his breath. The air cycled through his lungs in a lightning quick succession and barely satisfied his need.

Stumbling through the woods, Link could see the house looming in the distance.

As he approached, Link saw Eldwin step out from within and begin to come toward him.

Link's head bobbed with each step and the motion caused pain to shoot through his temples and sting at his brain.

Link moved shakily up to Eldwin and began to hand her the sack of herbs but she moved past his outstretched hand and stepped close to him.

Moving quickly like a snake, Eldwin landed her lips on his and planted a kiss. Link was surprised, yet somehow felt relieved.

She ignored him as he tried to hand her the herbs and instead moved to inspect his shoulder.

"You're hurt," Eldwin said matter-of-factly, and began to lead him inside.

As he moved, Link realized slowly that his headache was fading quickly, and his heart's thunderous pace was slowing to a regular beat.

And with the birth of conflict, we mark the end of part one. There will be a short intermission, then we'll continue with the story. What will happen? CONFLICT! CONFLICT! PLOT! PLOT!

Tune in next time :)

5/abunchI'mtoolazytocount


	6. Father

Before I get this started, I have to let you know that this is part one of a fractured prologue, not an advancement of the immediate story.

Just needed to let you know that so you weren't confused when it started, or extremely disappointed. This is very important in a way that isn't completely visible in the present. But it will be. So just stick it out and keep reading.

* * *

It seems like so long ago…

Link sat alone in his room, staring at the candle that glowed on the table. Its flame flickered slightly, casting ominous shadows across the room.

From somewhere else in the house, Link heard his mother's voice calling out, "Link! It's time for dinner!"

Getting off his bed slowly, Link exaggerated every movement in an attempt to drag the action out. He moved across the floor with the tired sluggishness of someone who doesn't want to do something, but must.

Turning the cold iron doorknob with a tinny click, Link left the room behind and headed out into the rest of the house.

He crossed a hallway that he crossed every night and headed into the kitchen. His mother was stirring a big black pot of stew that hung in the fireplace. The smell wafted through the air so much so that Link could capture the pleasant aroma from where he stood.

Link's stomach grumbled involuntarily and his mother said, "Go get a bowl and I'll give you some of the stew."

"Okay, mom."

Link turned away from his mother and went to the cabinet. He reached up a single hand and pulled the door open. It swung freely and revealed a trio of plain pewter bowls along with some plates.

Link wrapped his fingers around the edge of one of the bowls and went to pull it down.

However, as the dish hung in midair, Link's grip on the bowl slipped and it dropped from his hand.

Link's heart skipped a beat as the bowl seemed to float through the air. It moved so slowly through the air, and so did Link as he tried to catch it.

However, the air felt like molasses, catching him in its sadistic clutches, forcing him to watch the bowl sink to the floor below.

Time caught up, and Link heard the devastating sound of the bowl shattering against the floor. The bits and pieces exploded across the floor and Link felt his heart sink.

There was no way it could be fixed.

Link felt his limbs frozen, locked in place just as his eyes were locked on the shards of pewter stretched out across the room.

And Link's heart felt a stab of pain as he heard his father's voice call angrily from the other room.

"What was that?!" he growled.

Link heard a door open quickly, and then slam shut. Link's body began to quiver, shaking violently with fear and apprehension. He knew what was coming.

Heavy footsteps marked his father's approach.

Every part of Link wanted to run, to escape or to disappear —but he could do none of that.

Then suddenly his father was there in the room with him. He glared down at the boy, his anger visible in every line of his face and his gritted teeth.

"What did you do?" He snarled furiously.

"I… I, it… was an… accident," was all Link could manage to say, his voice soft, meek, and afraid.

Coming down like the tip of his father's furious sword, a fist smashed into Link's shoulder. It had moved so fast that he didn't have time to see it coming or to anticipate the punch and flinch away from it.

Link was crushed under the blow and he crumbled to the ground. His knees buckled and his whole body gave out.

His shoulder burned with a sickly sweet fire and Link could already feel the bruise forming. But it wasn't over yet.

Only a second behind the fist, his father's boot slammed into Link's chest. It knocked the breath out of him and sent him skidding until he slammed into the wall.

Link lay still, his breath weak and shaky. His whole body shuddered and tears streamed down his face.

Strong arms grabbed Link, lifting him into the air by his injured shoulder and leg. Link felt the icy hand of fear take hold as the ground fell away from him. A few solid footsteps told Link that he was moving, and each movement deepened the fear inside of the boy.

Suddenly, he was moving quickly, flying through the air. Link managed to pull his hands up over his head and neck before he crashed into the wall.

Link didn't move, hardly daring to breathe until his father spoke again.

"Go to bed."

His body shaking like a leaf, Link crawled to his feet and into his room.

He shut the door behind him and moved slowly as he neared his bed. Link blew the candle out and was engulfed in darkness save for the dim embers that balanced on the tip of the candle wick.

With his breath still ragged, Link crawled into his bed and in between the sheets. He was as still as a stone, hoping that he could just die then, and leave the pain behind him.

But the pain continued and so did he.

Through the walls, Link could hear the muffled voices of his father and mother, speaking to each other.

His father's voice was heavy and angry, while his mother's was light, and afraid.

"He's just a boy," his mother said softly, "Couldn't you… forgive him?"

His father said nothing, and Link held his breath, waiting for what was to follow.

The sharp sound of a slap resounded through the house and Link heard his mother fall to the floor.

Link heard his father moving, then the metallic clink of him getting stew from the pot. More footsteps indicated that he had left the kitchen.

Link heard his mother begin to cry. It was soft at first, but then a sob broke her will and she was bawling.

Remaining silent, Link joined her, letting his tears fall unabated. They collected in a pool on his pillow before soaking into the material.

Link's body and heart ached, and he couldn't bear it. Why did he have to hurt so much?

Why couldn't the pain just go away? Would it ever go away?

It seems like so long ago…

* * *

And that was Link's family, until part two of the prologue...

There will be another chapter of the present story next week don't worry. The prologue pieces will be about every five chapters so you'll have plenty of plot between them.

6/probably23


	7. Found (out)

Link sat on a fallen log some three dozen feet away from the house. If he looked back in that direction, he could just make out its shape through the trees. But Link didn't look back in that direction, instead choosing to gaze out into the distance or whatever distance was visible through the tightly grouped trees.

After several minutes of vainly trying to observe some part sky, Link turned his attention to the trees themselves. In most places the bark seemed thick and strong, but occasionally it gave way to what could only be described as open sores. Leaking patches of decay marked several of the trees. A faint stench floated away from them, though it was weak enough to be carried away by the meager morning wind.

That same wind made a chill run down Link's spine as it swept across his slightly damp skin. According to Eldwin's instruction, Link had slept with the poultice on and only removed it once the sun was up.

Link had meant to ask her more about the poultice in the morning, or just talk to her, but she was nowhere to be found. Link had looked and the house was empty except for himself and the surrounding woods were desolate save for the trees.

With a sigh, Link looked back out at the forest and began to examine those same odd trees with the leaking wounds, but as he began to look closer at the nearest one, a voice called out in the distance.

"Link!" It was a shout from far away, somewhere off in the woods.

Curiosity began to fill him, while it wasn't Eldwin's voice, it did sound female.

Standing from his place on the log, Link began to move deeper into the forest until he couldn't even make out the house through the trees, though he consciously remembered which direction it was.

The voice called his name twice more, both times closer to him, or was he closer to it?

Link flinched when someone suddenly stepped out from behind a tree. It was Ilia.

Upon seeing him, Ilia's mouth bent into a small smile "Hi, uh, Link. I've been looking for you."

Link stared back at her, feeling something strange building in him. Somehow this seemed wrong to him, her being out here. She was part of the town, and she needed to be there, not out here.

"What are you doing here?" Link asked. His voice was hard, demanding to know the reason for this unnatural thing. She shouldn't be out here. He didn't know why, but that was the truth. She shouldn't be out here.

"I was looking for you," she continued, ignoring his voice as if she hadn't heard the tone, "I haven't seen you in town for almost a week so I thought… well I thought something might've happened to you so I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Link nodded, trying but failing to dispel the sinking sense of dread he was feeling. This was wrong, she was part of the town. The town didn't come into the forest and neither did she.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just… didn't want to go into town."That was true. He didn't really have any reason to go into town, and he didn't like standing among the people who might, at any second, decide he was a monster.

He was a monster, but he still didn't like being in the town.

"Oh…" Ilia said softly, "Well, maybe you could come back sometime and we could talk."

She was gripping something in her hands, wringing it gently. Though the thing was mostly covered by her hands, Link caught a glimpse of it.

"Sure," Link said quickly, his mind suddenly racing, "What's that in your hand?"

Her smile grew for a moment before being replaced by a look of confusion.

"Oh, you mean this?" she said, lifting it so Link could get a better look. Link nodded, his confusion growing by the second.

In her hand was the doll he had _acquired_ for Eldwin.

"I found it out in the forest on my way here. It was just sitting there covered up and kind of buried."

"Oh…" Link muttered.

How had the doll gotten from the house to being buried in the forest? Why? He hadn't seen the thing since he gave it to Eldwin but Link had assumed she still had it, but here it was in Ilia's hand.

Link watched as the doll was once again enveloped in Ilia's hands, hidden from view.

"Well, I've got to get back soon," Ilia said, gazing toward the sun floating just above the horizon "I'll be in the town, but I guess you knew that," she laughed nervously "Bye, Link."

"Bye."

Ilia turned and was immediately swallowed by the dense forest.

Link stood there for a few moments, his mind racing. The doll seemed a mystery. Why would Eldwin have him retrieve that doll if she just planned to get rid of it?

_Don't trust her…_

Link shook his head, trying to forget the thought that wasn't his. Turning back toward the house, he began the trek.

_You belong…_

* * *

Link reentered the clearing, walking toward the wooden house with one hand pressed against his temples. Those few foreign thoughts had appeared in his head, immediately followed by a painful headache. It was worrying, though Link wasn't exactly sure what he should be worried about.

The sound of a door slamming made Link put his hand down and look up.

"Who was she? That girl?" Eldwin said, her voice barely concealing the anger that was easily apparent in her eyes.

"Just a girl," Link said, though what she would be if she wasn't that, "from the town."

"The town?!" Eldwin spat the word out, "So she's one of those people who tried to kill me, almost killed you! And you were just talking with her like the two of you are old friends."

Drawing a line between Ilia and their common banishment seemed strange to Link. She wasn't like that. Ilia wasn't spiteful or intolerant and Link couldn't imagine her taking part in an angry mob. He couldn't imagine her hurting anyone, except that one bandit.

"She's not like the rest," Link said, his voice starting to take on an edge "She wouldn't betray us."

"Wouldn't? You're certain?" Eldwin growled "You're ready to bet both our lives on that?"

Link wasn't certain. He wasn't certain that anybody could be trusted, not even Eldwin, and especially not himself. But once he found a way beneath the layer of general distrust, Link found that he might be able to trust Ilia on some level.

"Yes," Link half-lied, "She wouldn't hurt us, even if she could. And she can't; she doesn't know enough about either of us. She doesn't know you exist, and she doesn't know about… it."

That should have been enough to convince Eldwin, should have culled any further argument. Ilia wouldn't hurt them. Ilia couldn't hurt them. What more could she want?

"They're all the same," Eldwin spat, "Any one of them would kill us if they could, if they knew. Even if she doesn't, there are dozens more, hundreds more that would. All she would have to do is slip up and tell them. Just one accident and we're both dead! You need to stop seeing that girl."

"No," Link said firmly, his anger spilling over haphazardly. He couldn't stand the fact that Eldwin seemed to hate Ilia without even knowing her; it reminded him of his own treatment as a child. "I won't let us get hurt and you won't control who I talk to."

His temper in full flare, Link turned and began to head back out into the forest. A few feet short of the tree line, Link felt Eldwin's hand on his shoulder but he brushed her off and disappeared into the greenery.

Link stomped away, moving aimlessly through the trees. His thoughts were hot and angry.

How could Eldwin be so hypocritical, so blindly hateful? How had he failed to notice it before? She was just like them, just like the people in the town.

As the angry pressure in his mind built, a presence in his chest matched it. Like a solid mass inside his heart, the pressure seemed to grow slowly but steadily.

Link stumbled over an exposed root and let himself fall down onto a patch of bare dirt. Crawling over toward the nearest tree, Link leaned his back against its rough trunk and gazed off into wall of trees.

_Wrong…_

Link buried his face in his hands, blocking out the world so he could be alone. As he sat there, he could feel the thing in his chest growing, changing.

_Dangerous…_

Link gritted his teeth and shook his head suddenly. If Eldwin was like this, so… different beneath her skin, then how could he handle being in the same house as her? Just the thought of being near her now made the thing in his chest shift uncomfortably. It moved almost as if it were alive.

_Not hers…_

Silently, Link decided to leave. He didn't own anything so he could just walk away. He didn't know where he would go, but it didn't matter. If Eldwin was just the same as the people in the town… but now that he thought about it, they weren't even like that. The people from the town weren't angry or hateful. For the most part, they were like Ilia.

The bullies in the orphanage must have colored his opinion of the town.

Link climbed to his feet and looked around. The forest seemed the same in all directions. Taking a step, Link began to walk in a random direction, hoping that it would take him away from Eldwin altogether.

_No…_

Within a few steps Link had gained momentum and was now walking at a quick pace. The thing inside of him, it felt alive, squirming and wanting to break free.

_Don't go…_

Link looked around as he walked, wondering where he would end up.

_Please…_

Link stepped into a clearing suddenly, and began to recognize it immediately. He knew the shape of it, and the patch of sickly trees off to one side. But most of all, he recognized the wooden house and the sad eyed figure of Eldwin.

As soon as he left the cover of trees, Link regretted it. He didn't want to come back here to her. He wanted to be somewhere far away.

Her eyes flew up almost immediately and locked on him. "Link!" she said quickly, "You're back! I… didn't think you would. I'm sorry about what I said before. Please, don't go."

Link started to say that he _was_ leaving. That he wanted to go away and not come back, but something made him hold his tongue. His thoughts felt fuzzy for some reason, and the words wouldn't form.

"Oh, thank you," Eldwin said, apparently taking his silence as an affirmative. "Just stay here," she said softly, stepping toward him and placing a hand lightly on his cheek, "with me…"

Link felt himself being drawn closer to her until their lips were almost touching, then she kissed him.

Without thinking, he kissed her back

Inexplicably, his fiery attitude from before began to dissipate. However, the strange pressure was still present, still strong though it had stopped growing.

Link ignored the thing and focused entirely on Eldwin.


	8. Something Lost

If you haven't noticed, I've shifted over to an update-every-two-weeks pattern. Now its official. It's hard writing updates for five or six stories every single week. Well now it'll be half one week, then the other half the next. While this will delay updates for some of the more central stories in my rotation (_this one)_, it will put off the monumental delays that have become the norm for my other stories (_notably Broken and What I Forgot)_

I hope you'll bear with me, because this story is just starting to get really interesting, read on...

* * *

Link woke up and instantly pulled his hand to his forehead, trying to vainly to soothe the throbbing headache. His thoughts felt fuzzy, drifting and merging together until all he knew was a muddle of distant memories and fractured thoughts.

_Running, his claws dug into the soft loam as they propelled him forward._

Link shook his head, as if the motion could dispel the remnants of the image. It was like a memory, but it wasn't him. It couldn't be him.

_The scent of prey was still floating heavily in the air. He leapt up into the air, easily clearing the low hanging branch that blocked his path._ _He landed with ease on the other side and immediately took off again after the deer._

These _things_ couldn't be memories, but they felt the same. They felt familiar, but that wasn't him.

_Hot blood leapt from the deer's torn throat, and he eagerly lapped it up. Once the stream lost some its ferocity, he began to work on the flesh, tearing away strips and bits, eagerly gobbling them up._

Link clenched his eyes shut, pressing his fists against the sides of his head as if that alone could force out the invading memories. Who's memories? They belonged to some kind of animal's, but what? And how?

_He looked at the torn carcass and felt disappointed that his stomach was to full too fit any more of the sweet hot meat. Turning away from the wasted animal, he lay down in the grass and closed his eyes. Thoughts of the hunt began to fade away, drifting and changing until they were strange and distant, like someone else's thoughts and memories._

_He woke up and instantly pulled his hand to his forehead, trying vainly to soothe the throbbing headache. His thoughts felt fuzzy, drifting and merging together until all he knew was a muddle of distant memories and fractured thoughts._

_His name was Link._

Link froze at the dawn of that last thought, those last few moments of memory.

"That was… how could it… it…" Link muttered, already knowing the truth, but too afraid to say it aloud. "It's… me. That thing, that… the Other. That was it, must be."

Link knew there was one final way to be certain, one piece of evidence that he couldn't deny no matter how much he wanted to. Link hesitated on the brink of turning his head, putting off looking for what he knew was there.

Link could almost feel his body shaking with the stress, the fear of it, but finally he turned.

There, lying in the grass, sticky with blood and surrounded by buzzing flies, was a dead deer. Not just a dead deer, _the_ dead deer. The deer he'd killed as the Other. The deer he _remembered_ killing as the other.

"Oh goddesses…" Link murmured, feeling his hands begin to shake, "What am I turning into? It's getting worse… soon we'll be… we'll be the…" but Link couldn't force himself to say it, because that would have solidified the thought. The act of vocalizing it would turn it into truth, and Link didn't know if he could face that and remain sane.

Then the words slipped from his lips unbidden, almost of their own accord.

"We're becoming the same… the same thing…."

Link closed his eyes, buried his face in his hands, and wept. This thing he had tried his whole life to fight against, had hoped to someday defeat, it was beating him. It was taking over and pressing itself into his mind and thoughts even when it wasn't totally in control. Link didn't know how he could fight against that.

"But, the poultice…" Link murmured; his voice cracked as he said the word, "it didn't…"

It hadn't worked, of course it hadn't worked. How could he have believed in something like that?

"Just rub something on it," Link muttered angrily, "Magic Cure-all."

Link leapt to his feet, suddenly fueled by anger at his own stupidity. "I'd believe anything," he growled, "that would free me from that."

Spinning around on one foot, Link sprinted at the nearest tree with his fist balled up and raised high. His knuckles connected with the tree, resulting in dull cracking of the dark red bark and a sharp pain in his hand.

Link pulled his hand back from the tree and examined his knuckles, looking at the spots of blood on each ridge. He could feel himself on the edge again, close to losing control.

"Losing control?" Link laughed joylessly, "I've already lost everything else."

Holding up his hand he began to count of all of it, all of the pain he'd been given in exchange for a normal life.

"Pare… A mother," that was one, "a home, friends," three and four, "A normal life, safety, a clean conscience," that made six, "a… a girl" two faces popped into his head at that word, but Link pushed them both away, letting them disappear into the darker recesses of his mind. "And maybe even kids, a real family, something to replace… that."

Link stared down at his hands, stared at the eight fingers he held up, each one symbolizing something that he'd lost so long ago.

As he looked at his fingers, Link began to feel the heartbreak coming back. He really had believed it was over, he'd trusted that poultice, but it was nothing.

* * *

Link stomped through the woods, following the beaten path he had apparently made the night before. He could see the deer's hoof prints, followed by the prints of something beastly.

"Mine," Link murmured, "my prints."

He had been angry… before. He had been sad and scared. He had felt betrayed and he had dwelt upon the unfairness of his life. He had dwelled upon the agony that was Link, and now he was tired of it. He had felt so much in just the past hour that he didn't think he had the capacity to care any longer. It had all just soaked out of him and disappeared.

Now there was nothing left, just empty space and weariness.

"I," Link began, his voice heavy and slow, "am Link's soul, drenched in apathy…"

Link laughed at the words, if it could have been called laughter, and if that weary muttering could be called words. He had dwelt upon his misery for so long that it had intoxicated him and he had become drunk on the nearly tangible clouds of emotion that had drifted like thick fog inside of his skull.

His arms hung limply at his sides because there was no use moving them. His head remained upright only so he didn't walk into something, though he didn't care enough to step over roots that stuck out so he tripped often.

Link could see the hut looming ahead. He recognized the thin line of smoke streaming from the chimney, and he recognized the single glass paneled window.

However, he didn't recognize the door that hung slightly off its hinges, nor did he remember the sight of a table ripped into firewood and scattered around the clearing.

Link sped his pace, hurrying into the clearing and toward the house. Even if he had lost the desire or need to care about himself, it didn't extend to Eldwin. She'd taken him in, knowing what he was. Even if her poultice didn't work, it wasn't her fault.

Link hurried through the door and into the epicenter. Nearly everything that had existed inside the house had been destroyed. The single clay vase that _had _stood by the window now lay in shards on the opposite side of the room. There had once been an old brass candlestick that sat on the now-ruined table, but it had been stomped flat and the candle had been broken into crumb sized pieces.

But what worried Link most was the thing he saw staining the floor and leading into the next room. It made a trail, a sticky splotch here, a dark scarlet drop there.

Leading into Eldwin's bedroom was a trail of blood.


	9. Blood in the Sunlight

Link could barely feel his hands shaking as he stood frozen a yard from the cracked door. Through it he could see a portion of the opposite wall, a cracked window that let in a single square of light and a splash of blood. The room seemed dark and the air was still. Link could hardly bare to breathe in the terrible silence.

Finally, he heard a groaning creak and realized he had taken a step forward. He still couldn't see much through the door, only the blood drying ominously on the wooden floor. Link took a deep breath that was so ragged he nearly choked on it. He pushed the door open and entered in one jerky movement.

Link's eyes scanned the room quickly, searching for Eldwin.

The moment Link caught sight of her, his breath caught.

Laying facedown and still, Eldwin could have been sleeping, except for the shallow puddle of blood beneath her face and the green-purple splotches that marred her exposed skin.

The stillness shattered as Link rushed to her side. He rolled her over and was mildly relieved to see that the only source of blood was a coming from her nose and split upper lip.

"Eldwin…" Link choked out. With shaking hands, Link pulled her closer to himself and pressed an ear to Eldwin's chest. Though faint, the beating of her heart caused Link to let out a relieved sigh. Still keeping her close, Link tried to gently wipe the blood from her face.

"Link…" she murmured through barely parted lips. Her eyes remained closed, but Link could see them moving slightly below the lids.

"It's me," Link said softly "What happened?" The question echoed in his own ears as he asked it.

What had happened?

Though the fact was still a burning coal in Link's mind, he could remember ever every moment he had spent as the Other. Every step taken, every leap and landing, the sweat and the blood, and what he had killed. Those memories were distinct, clear.

He hadn't come near Eldwin; Link knew that. Not since running off into the woods had he even come close to the house. What had happened?

Link could see her struggling to talk as the weak words came out.

"It was… him. He came back." Link's mind raced, searching for a clue in what she had said.

"Who?" Link asked softly.

"Ru… rus…" she murmured.

"Rusl?" Link asked, his voice becoming hard and cold. "Was it him? Did Rusl come here and do this?"

Eldwin didn't speak again, simply nodding slowly. Even so, Link saw her cringe as she bent her neck. Link felt anger welling up inside of him, becoming an almost tangible force that was ready to break out at any moment.

Struggling to keep his voice gentle despite the rage he felt, Link said, "Can I… move you to your bed? I need to... do something but I… will you be alright for a little while? Just sleep… do you need anything?" Link was almost shaking by the time he finished speaking.

"I… I'll just… sleep…" Eldwin said. Link could see the strain it was taking just to hold her head up and speak. It made Link grit his teeth.

Slipping an arm under her knees and supporting her back with the other, Link lifted Eldwin slowly. She winced as he moved her, but didn't move any more beside that. As he held her like that, Link could feel just how light she was, how fragile.

Putting her into the bed, Link carefully pulled the blanket over her and walked out of the room, clenching his fists.

* * *

Link ran through the woods, driven blindly by the white, hot anger that never seemed to fade. Along with the rage, the pressure inside of him had grown tremendously, seeming ready to burst from within at any moment.

However, Link didn't let it. He didn't know why, but something told him that he should keep control of that pressure, at least until he found Rusl.

Just the thought of the man made Link's blood boil. Link didn't know how Rusl could do something that terrible.

Link burst out of the woods and found himself standing on the edge of the town. The gates were only about thirty feet away.

Link bolted through them, cutting his way through the crowd. The fury blinded him so much that Link barely even noticed when he knocked someone to the ground in his haste.

His feet pounded against the uneven flagstones, changing his upright sprint into more of a bent over dash. As if the world were dipped in blood, Link's sight seemed to turn red.

Link caught sight of something in the distance, something familiar.

Focusing his senses on the shape, Link noticed the man he'd seen before. He took in the blonde hair, the square face. Somewhere deep within his mind he fit a name to the shape.

Rusl

Changing direction abruptly, Link dove into an alley between two houses. Link could feel the man, feel which direction he lay in. Link could hear each of his footfalls distinctly.

He could smell him.

One of Link's feet caught on an upraised cobblestone and he tripped. His arms shot out ahead of his body and caught hold of a flagstone each. Without losing a step, Link began to move on four limbs, shooting along the stone covered street almost horizontally.

Stopping suddenly, Link glared out at the crowds of people. Link quickly sucked in a nose-full of air and shot of after the scent.

In one place a cobblestone had been torn away entirely to reveal the soft earth below. As he passed that place, Link's claws dug into the dirt and left four deep furrows.

Weaving his way through the crowd, Link left a wave of screams and terrified cries in his wake. One person shouted, "It's that _thing!_" with a mixture of fear and revulsion, though Link paid it no mind. He had one specific prey.

_Go… find him… do it…_

Pausing for less than a second, Link found the man nearly a dozen feet away. Still unaware of Link's presence, the man was walking calmly yet with a sense of purpose.

_For me…_

Link shot out again and rushed toward the man. As he neared, a low growl rumbled from his throat. His bloodshot vision singled out the man and drew him nearer.

_Rusl…_

The crowd moved away from him instinctively.

_Kill him... kill him…. KILL HIM!_

Link closed the distance between him and his prey, moving with inhuman speed.

* * *

Rusl walked through the crowd, heading home to check on his wife. The baby had been kicking a lot lately and he suspected that it would be coming soon. Perhaps in the next few days even.

A commotion drew Rusl's attention and he found himself watching a slowly widening field of panic. The crowds seemed to be frightened of something, or at least excited.

Putting a hand to the hilt by his waist, Rusl took a step toward the line of movement and prepared to draw his sword. It seemed to be coming toward him. Through the loud buzz of voices, Rusl thought he heard something growling.

Something shot out of the crowd, moving like an arrow, and slammed into his chest. Rusl felt several slight stabs of pain as it pressed into him and knocked him to the ground. For a few moments he was shocked, unable to move. Something large was standing atop him. Its long, fingerlike forepaws were stabbing painfully into his chest, while a semi-wolf like face peered down at him.

Eyes that seemed full of pain and hatred stared down at him. The thing growled.

Rusl tried to reach for his sword, moving his arm slowly inch by inch.

It bared its teeth, letting breath that stank of blood and death roll out onto his face. Rusl stopped.

Somehow, that wolf-like face seemed to change, shifting its skin and flesh like clay. Its snout shortened slightly, its ears lowering and becoming more rounded, becoming more human-like.

The face of a man stared out at him, though his features were still somewhat touched by the wolf's face. His mouth was still bent into a snarl and his eyes carried the same intensity.

All at once Rusl recognized the face. It was the face of a boy who had survived his parents. The face of a boy who had lived through pain and fear. The face of a boy who Rusl knew, if barely.

"Link…" Rusl forced out, though the weight on his chest made any speech difficult. "Please, I can…"

"You…" he snarled, jagged teeth showing in a wicked grimace, "hurt… her..."

The rest of his words were unintelligible, hindered the semi-canine jaw. Rusl couldn't understand what had happened to the boy, or how he had become this beast.

In a surge of shock, Rusl realized that Link must have been the creature that stalked the streets at night.

Guilt streaked through him as Rusl remembered driving the boy out of town, though there had been no way to know it was him.

"…help you. Please don't…" Rusl tried to say, but it was too late.

Rusl died.


	10. Together

Link pushed his way through the crowd, and was almost knocked flat by the sheer maelstrom of panicked bodies. Most of them were screaming, having just witnessed or heard about the tragic and horrific death of a man.

Only a few had actually tried to help Rusl, and even fewer had tried to pursue the murderous beast. The majority had broken into a boiling panic and scattered. Some had hunkered down in alleys or behind carts, while others had fled toward their homes.

Link wiped the cold sweat from his brow and forged ahead. He needed to make it back to the forest before the panic died out he had to be gone from this place.

He'd been able to change back where no one could see him, but Link still worried about being found out. Something strange still irked him, though, beneath the heavy layers of panic and fear.

_He_ had been able to change back. Still conscious, still Link, he'd decided to stop being the Other and it had worked. That was new, terrifying and confusing, but exciting as well. Somehow he'd gained some semblance of control of the beast inside of him, and that provided a speck of comfort.

The tree line was in sight; all Link needed to do was break free of the crowd and run for it. Surely he could reach the forest before anyone caught him. Then he would be free.

Link shoved his way haphazardly out of the crowd and planted the first step of a frenzied sprint.

"Link!" a voice called the moment he had broken from the crowd.

Instinct forced him to turn his head toward the voice, but sheer effort of willpower allowed his legs to continue carrying him away.

It took a few seconds for Link's eyes to narrow in on the voice's owner, but eventually he found Ilia looking at him. She was far away, peering out through the cracked front door of a large house. Even from this distance, Link could see the fear in her eyes.

The fear of him.

Link turned his gaze back away from her and disappeared into the woods.

* * *

Link took hold of the doorknob with a shaking hand. Lingering in the back of his head was the face of Rusl in his last moments. Link could still see the man's eyes darting around for a moment, looking for escape, before realizing there was none. He could still feel the man pressing up against him, trying to overthrow the beast. The beast had overpowered him, though, just as it had overpowered Link himself.

Link knew that wasn't true. The beast hadn't fought him, and he hadn't struggled. There was no change or shifting of consciousness. Link was the Other; he was the beast.

"Not the Other…" Link murmured to himself, "the same. If there was no change, we must be the same thing."

He could feel is body tensing and shaking, his jaw clenching. Link's eyes swam and he felt sick.

He was that monster, the same monster he'd been convinced was something else entirely. It wasn't another being inside of him: it was just some other side of him.

A thought struck Link. If that monster was him, then he wasn't safe. He was never safe. He couldn't be around Eldwin, not around anyone. No matter how much he tried, there was always the chance of him accidentally hurting someone. There always had been, but Link had tried to suppress the certainty.

But he couldn't do that anymore. He couldn't ignore the monster inside of him anymore than he could murder Eldwin right now. He just couldn't bear it.

His hand shook and jiggled the knob, opening the door. Link, who had been leaning against the door, fell off balance and stumbled into the house.

"Link…" a feeble voice called from the other room, "Is that you?"

He gritted his jaw for a moment, hesitant to answer, then Link sighed and answered, "It's me."

Shaking himself, Link did his best to dispel the flurry of emotions or at least hide them away. He couldn't leave now, not while Eldwin was still hurt. Maybe once she got better, but not before. He couldn't just leave her like this.

Link entered Eldwin's room and found her sitting up in her bed. Now that some time had passed, the bruises on her face and arms had become visible and obvious, blooming yellowish splotches.

Just the sight of them made Link angry, prompting an odd murmuring from that faint voice.

_No, can't… leave… like this… too soon? Need... I... need?_

Link ignored the voice, pushing it down and away from him. Instead, he focused on Eldwin. Moving closer to the bed, Link asked if there was anything he could do.

"There's some… medicine, a salve… under the bed…" Eldwin said, her voice sounding weak.

Link nodded and proceeded to search under the bed. He got down on hands and knees, poking his head into the dark space. After a few moments of poking around blindly, Link's hand made contact with a small wooden vessel.

He pulled it out and unscrewed the lid, revealing a greyish paste that looked grainy and smelled bitter. Link started to hand the jar to Eldwin, but she just held her arm out, displaying one of the ugly bruises.

Link nodded slightly, still unnerved by the injury, and dipped two of his fingers into the cream. It was cool to the touch and grainy as he'd predicted. After just a moment of contact, Link's fingertips began to feel distant and numb.

Ignoring the strange reaction, Link began to rub the salve into Eldwin's skin. The first thing he noted was how soft and smooth she was.

Once the paste seemed decently rubbed in, Link moved onto the next bruise she offered him. At first he focused on the task of applying the cream, but soon his mind had wandered. Not _wandered_ precisely, but been drawn to something other than the application. He seemed transfixed on the surface of her skin, the slight contours of her body.

While Link was smearing the paste into a bruise on her opposite arm, he was caught leaning across her awkwardly. He had considered moving over to the other side of the bed, but something kept him there. Maybe it was the closeness between them, or the fact that at this distance he could smell her hair.

It was sweet, with an underlying tang.

As Link pulled back from her to search out another bruise, she caught his eyes. They held him still and threatened to suck him in. A whole hour could've passed and Link would never have noticed.

Without any warning, Eldwin leaned forward and kissed him. It was over quickly, but Link was still stuck staring at her.

Link kissed her back, a long soft kiss.

She reached around and grabbed his shoulders suddenly, pulling him toward her. Link let go of the salve and it fell to the floor.

Link was so intent on Eldwin that he didn't even hear it strike the ground.

* * *

Link lay in the bed looking at nothing.

Eldwin was asleep at his side, a slight smile on her otherwise smooth face. Link looked at the arm he had around her, noticing for the first time the splotch of grey salve on his forearm.

_I am happy…_

Link smirked, realizing that some of the cream must've rubbed off one of Eldwin's bruises and onto him. He wondered if there was more than just that one speck of salve. Link let out a small grin and reached over to wipe the paste off his arm.

_How long has it been? Forever, it seems…_

He paused, though, just a few inches away from the splotch. Link looked down at Eldwin and decided that it might disturb her, that he'd take care of the bit of paste later. Instead he settled down and thought about that voice in his head.

_Who? Whose?_

"_Who are you?_" Link thought toward the voice, if such a direction were possible.

The voice was silent, seeming taken aback. Slowly it spoke, "_How did… what are you…"_

"_I'm Link,_" he thought, straightforwardly, "_Who are you? Are you… me?_"

He could almost hear the voice's chirp of laughter, "_No…_"

"_Are you the Other?_"

The voice purred out an answer, seeming amused, "Of course not, silly, that wouldn't make any sense…"

"_Then who are you?_" Link thought, jabbing the message out "_What are you?_"

His only response was a peal of silken laughter, then the voice seemed to fade away. He tried a few more times to attract its attention, and then the voice didn't come back.

Link sighed and looked down at Eldwin. She was still smiling. He smiled too and kissed her softly.


	11. Reassurance

A soft shriek ripped Link into wakening. For a moment he was a child again, confused and afraid. The feeling left him almost immediately, but he had to fight the impulse to find his mother. It should have been a silly thought, something to be laughed at, but it wasn't.

The feeling left him almost immediately and Link looked over at Eldwin who was still asleep on the other side of the bed. Weak convulsions were throwing her back and forth. The single blanket was taken with her and Eldwin became hopelessly entangled in it. Link could hardly see in the pre-morning darkness, but he was able to make out the thick beads of sweat springing up on her forehead.

Link sat up and took hold of her shoulders, shaking Eldwin gently. At first, she merely struggled against him, murmuring inaudibly. Then suddenly, her eyes shot open and Eldwin cried out. From there she lay panting and sweating, staring up at Link's worried face.

"What happened?" she gasped.

"I think you were having a nightmare," Link said. "So I woke you up."

Still drowsy, Eldwin asked, "What time is it?"

After murmuring the words "I don't know," Link rose from the bed and went to the window. He felt the cool air raise goose bumps on his exposed skin. Peering out through the glass, Link observed a tiny flicker of light far off on what must have been the horizon. The tiny portion of the sun lent a slightly dusky radiance to the woods.

"About dawn," Link said, turning back to Eldwin "Do you think it's too late to go back to sleep?"

Eldwin chuckled tiredly but proceeded to rub her eyes and stretch her arms out. She rose from the bed and walked over to Link, putting an arm around him.

Standing together like that, they gazed out the window and watched the woods. The clearing was mostly lifeless except for a few stray plants. In contrast, Link could make out movement in the trees beyond. While watching, Link saw a flutter of wings among the branches, a slinking thing that looked to be a fox, and a few other signs of life.

"Do you remember what you were dreaming about," Link murmured, "before I woke you up?"

"I… uh, no," she said, seeming flustered.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me," Link said, turning back to the window. Near the tree line he saw a nervous looking thing that might have been a rabbit.

"I… It was something bad I guess," Eldwin said. "How is the poultice working?"

Link's thoughts catapulted away from Eldwin's dream and the present itself. Instead he found himself focusing on that morning in the woods when he had discovered the Other's memories. After that, his mind flitted to the time later that day, when he'd turned into the Other while still being himself. They melded together and Link once again felt a twinge of betrayal.

"It's not working," he said simply, "The other day I… I changed twice. And it was different; the first time I could remember everything once I changed back, and the second it was like I'd actually stepped into the Other."

"Isn't that what normally happens? You change, and step into the Other's body?"

"No," Link said desperately "Normally it's like something else has taken over my body. This time I took over the Other's body, instead of the other way around. I think your poultice is making it worse. Before I would only change while I was asleep and it was all like a dream, but now it's happening during the day. And _twice_ in the same day! Twice!"

Eldwin was silent for a moment, a puzzled look on her face. Then after a short time of confusion, relief painted her expression.

"It is! It is working!" she said quickly "I think it's pulling the two of you together, into… into one entity, I guess. This is the first time I've actually seen the poultice being used. All I know is from the book. What I think is that the herbs are somehow pulling the two sides of you together, and then the rest is you! Now you have some kind of control of it, do you?"

Eldwin was frenzied now, and it took Link a few moments to catch up to her words.

"I… uh, yeah," was all he could say at first "There was this… pressure before it came out the second time. I could almost feel it, almost feel it breaking loose. And I… held it in. For a while, at least. I mean, it came out eventually but..."

Link was almost overcome with a sudden surge of joy. He'd lost hope for a while, and he'd been sure it wouldn't work. But now he knew that those signs which had caused his despair, they'd actually been signs of success.

He _was_ going to be freed.

* * *

Guest1177623:Sure, if you mean the titles of other stories I've written then I'd recommend Until I Remember, Broken, and The Hero Hyrule Forgot. I'd say those are my best. If that's not what you wanted then specify in another review or message me if you have an account.


	12. Mother

It seems like so long ago…

A soft shriek ripped Link from his dreams. In the instant between sleep and wakening, he recognized the voice as his mother's. Link leapt from his bed and ran to the door, stumbling through the dark room. He nearly tripped over something along the way, but managed to catch himself on the doorknob and pull it open.

Link ran into the hall after the sound, searching. The shadows were nearly full, cut only by a pale bar of moonlight. It came through the window and fell across the floor, faintly illuminating something on the ground.

As Link approached, he became aware of the faint quivering movements that wracked the thing. He moved even closer, and he heard the whimpering sobs that were being mostly suppressed by gritted teeth. It wasn't until he was just inches away that Link recognized his mother lying on the ground.

Her eyes shot open as he neared and Link saw heavy tears in them.

"L-l-link…" she groaned. She sounded hurt and weak, like she was sick. As he looked closer, Link saw mottled patches of bruised flesh across her face. Link felt a stab of sadness as he saw the bruises, but that wasn't what disturbed him the most or made him pull back in horror. The bruises had almost always painted her face, a constant reminder of the looming presence of whom they both lived in fear. It no longer surprised him to see them.

But what did shock him was the knife hilt sticking out of her middle. In the pale light Link could see dark blood glistening over the hilt and the quivering hand that held it.

Link tried to say something to his mother, but the words wouldn't come. His jaw clenched up and then just as suddenly it felt as though it was liquid. Link started crying, blubbering uncontrollably.

"L-link…" his mother began again in a pained groan, "I love y-you, but…"

Link heard a door swing open and a soft glow revealed the outline of his father in the hallway. His mother's eyes swung in that direction quickly and they widened.

"I'm sorry, son…" she murmured, softer now. Without warning, Link's mother let out an agonized groan.

Creaking floorboards announced his approach. "I love you, but not… I can't…live with _him_…" She spat the word "_him"_ with the last of her energy and with that, his mother shut her eyes and let out a long slow breath. She was still, not breathing.

Link sat there sobbing, his eyes locked on his mother, sliding back and forth between the knife and her face. The cold air got to him and Link began shivering.

"What did she say?" a hard, stern voice said from behind him.

Link spun around to see his father standing there, staring coldly down at his him. For a moment the man glanced over at his wife's body, then back to Link. Looking up at his father, Link could feel the entirety of the world pressing down on him.

He glanced back at his mother quickly and swallowed. His throat was dry, and he felt ready to sweat despite the cool air.

While he was looking away, something took hold of Link's arm and forced it painfully behind his back. Link could feel his shoulder straining in the socket. Letting out a cry of pain, Link's legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

"What. Did. She. Say?" his father said menacingly, pronouncing each word with equal intensity. Link felt his father move and the pain skyrocketed.

His tears now coming from pain instead of grief, Link said quickly, "She said that… she didn't… love you. And she couldn't live with you."

Link sat in paralyzed fear for a moment as his father remained silent. Then Link heard his father growl with rage and jerk Link's arm upward. Link screamed and fell as his father dropped him. The pain was excruciating and Link's vision began to blur.

All he could see was his mother, laying still and pale. Suddenly a foot swung into his vision and connected with his mother's body. It skidded a foot and rolled onto its side. Link could see a pool of blood glistening where she had lain, and he wanted to throw up.

Footsteps and angry grumbling faded into the distance as Link's father left the kitchen. Link lay there, coexisting with the pain that threatened to burn him away. His fingers were completely numb, but waves of agony flowed from his shoulder.

Waves of a different pain were stabbing into his heart. Link couldn't stop staring at his mother's body, couldn't move his head or his eyes. She just lay there, unmoving.

Tears flowed from Link's eyes but he couldn't feel them. All he could feel was pain, pain and fear.

His consciousness left him and Link faded away.


	13. Retribution

A shriek tore Link from his sleeping state. Link was thrust suddenly into full panic. He shot bolt upright and tried vainly to see through the inky darkness that pervaded the bedroom.

"Eldwin," he croaked out, turning toward her gasping silhouette, "Are you okay?"

She moved slowly, turning her head toward Link before the rest of her. Link could see her shoulders shaking slightly, even in the darkness. A beam of moonlight fell across her face and Link could see that it was shining with sweat.

Her voice was shallow, a barely recognizable sliver of her usual vitality present in the strained whisper.

"I… I'm fine…"

Her voice cracked while she spoke and Link could plainly hear the lie in her words.

"Tell me about it," Link said, probing, "It's a nightmare, isn't it?"

The silhouette actually retreated an inch away from Link. She seemed to be trying to disappear into the darkness.

"It's nothing," she said finally.

"It's _not_ nothing," Link insisted, "You've woken up from some kind of nightmare, screaming, for the past few nights. Please, just tell me what's the matter."

Her silence stretched for a long time, somehow making the minute sounds of the night seem bolder by comparison. Trees outside rustled in the night breeze, the house creaked erratically as it tried to settle, something small, a mouse probably, ran across the floor in the hallway.

"Fine," Eldwin said, relenting after an internal struggle that was audible in the forced tone of her voice. "A long time ago, not long after I came here and found this house, some men came from the village."

It sounded as if she was forcing the words out, physically pushing each syllable out of herself. Something else in her voice told Link that she was walking a razor's edge.

This wasn't a good memory, not by a long shot.

"They followed me… after I escaped out here. They… they found me."

She was shivering, staring off into the night. Eldwin didn't seem to be moving at all aside from the shivering. She sat stock still as she relayed the devastating account to Link.

"They wanted to… to finish… what they'd started with… that witch. I was just sitting out here, trying to collect some food, when… suddenly they were there. Two men… they just came out of nowhere."

Concern shot through Link and he found himself putting an arm around Eldwin, trying to quell the shivers or at least comfort her in some fashion. She stopped shivering, stopped moving at all. Link's hand brushed a part of her forearm and felt the slick layer of cold sweat there.

"I… they… just started… hitting me… they came out of… of nowhere. They… just kept… they just kept hitting…" Her words were broken by fits of devastated sobbing that stemmed from the act of reliving the memory.

"Then they…" she continued, her words shallow and monotone, cutting off into long pauses sporadically, "They took me… to the house… I keep seeing that… over and over again. I'm sorry, I didn't want to… don't worry. It's just a dream now."

Her reassurance fell flat, doing nothing to dispel the fury building up in Link. It was unacceptable, what those men had done. Totally and completely wrong. It hit Link like a brick to the head while he sat there in a daze, digesting the horror.

"Who were they?" Link demanded, his voice trembling beneath the load of his barely contained anger, "Who are they… do you know where they are, now?"

Something was burning inside Link. Something terrible and frightening. It was flooding through him, bursting through anything that got in his way, carrying off more and more of himself with it. Anger, pure anger, was pulsing through him with the ferocity of an ocean. Link almost felt like shivering himself just from the feeling of this fiery emotion.

"I remember them… from before I left the village," Eldwin said softly, her voice still sounding haunted by the re-experiencing, "Evan and Torryl… they live in the… the town."

Link looked away from her for a moment, out toward the single window. He took note of the near complete darkness and the absence of any sun-speck on the horizon.

Link took a deep breath and got out of the bed, feeling something in his chest, something growing and unfolding within. Link felt the burning pressure and pushed it back down, holding it there. It wasn't time.

He walked around the bed to Eldwin's side and kissed her.

Before he left, Link told her adamantly that there was nothing to be afraid of. He would protect her from anything that might hurt her and do away with anything that had. As he walked out the door, Link had one final burning thought.

Both Evan and Torryl were dead already-they just didn't know it yet. They'd died the moment they laid their hands on Eldwin.

* * *

The cold morning air felt crisp to Link, heightening his senses as he strode briskly into the town. Houses stood all around, looming over him. Link gazed around, searching for the two men, though he knew he wouldn't find them.

Truth be told, he didn't know where he would find them. He only knew their names, nothing more. Maybe if he asked around.

A slight movement drew Link's attention and his head snapped in that direction. Something had moved over there, in that alley. Link found himself heading in that direction, submitting entirely to the solitary hunting instinct that was spreading through him.

Link entered the narrow alley and stared down between the buildings. There was some debris strewn across the ground, some damage visible on the walls, and a man crouched near the far side. He wasn't crouched so much as he was sprawled out, sleeping against one of the walls.

Approaching the man, Link found himself staring down him. Something about the man gnawed at him.

_Yes…_

"Wake up," Link growled.

The man's eyes opened slowly and he turned his head lazily toward Link. Remaining silent except for a wide mouthed yawn, the man watched Link with glazed eyes.

"What's your name?" Link said gruffly, staring at the man.

_Reeeveeenggee..._

The man was silent for a long moment before murmuring just loud enough for Link to hear, "None of your business what my name is…"

Link didn't falter. He just stared down at the man and asked, "Is it Torryl?"

The man was silent, meeting Link's stare.

_For me…_

"Or are you Evan?"

Recognition flashed in the man's glazed eyes and he said, "That's me, whaddya want?"

Link felt something bursting out from inside of him. He knew what it was. It was anger, revenge and retribution. It was the Other, the manifestation. It was the curse and it was his freedom. It was what marked him apart from everybody but finally brought him close to someone, close to Eldwin.

Link felt the Other burst out of him and kill Evan. All the while Link could feel the puppeteer's strings in his hands, the disjointed sense of control that was slowly growing and building.

Evan's death was no accident; it was a rightful and deserved retribution.


	14. The Child's Hand

Link stalked through the streets, his head swiveling as he searched for Torryl. He wasn't actually searching for the man, but the man's house. After asking around for nearly half an hour, he had finally gotten directions. The sun was now high overhead, telling Link that it was about noon or even a little after.

Though it had taken so long to get directions, Link had needed to waste several hours until the panic died down about the most recent victim. During this time he simply walked around town. He melted into that morning's crowds, going wherever the current pulled him.

He had seen Ilia a few times while traipsing around in the mass of foreign bodies. The first two times she had simply kept walking, not even noticing him as she went about whatever she was up to. The third, however, resulted in her catching sight of him while passing by. She'd stopped in the crowd, turning to look after him and call his name.

Link kept walking that time just as he had the other two, ignoring her calls. For a moment or two of his head-down escape he had been afraid she would persist by trying to catch up with him and trap him with conversation. However, she gave up before he had reached the end of that block. It was a good thing. He wasn't here to talk, he was here to kill. He couldn't let her distract him.

Several hours after killing Evan in the alleyway, Link found himself standing in front of Torryl's house, wringing his hands nervously. It had been simple before, stupendously simple. He had walked into the town and simply run into Evan by chance; this would be harder. For one, it was the middle of the day. For another, Torryl had a house instead of an alley.

Evan had probably been a nobody, a homeless drunkard, a sewer rat. Nobody would care that he was gone, and nobody had been with him to act as a potential witness. From what Link had learned while asking about Torryl, the man had a family: a wife and a young child about halfway between birth and ten years.

The fact that Torryl had a family should have bothered Link more, just as the gruesome details of Evan's murder should have scarred him. However, the very potential of him being disturbed had been stripped away as he listened to Eldwin recount the terrible encounter. These men were beasts, monsters for doing what they had done. No matter who they were now, they deserved to die.

And so, with a clean conscience, Link knocked on the door.

After a few moments the thing swung open to reveal a woman standing in the entrance.

"Can I help you?" she asked. There was a jug with a blue and white pattern held against her hip. In the background, Link could hear a young boy playing. He sounded about six.

Link had worked out what to say while he was wandering the city.

"Yes," he said, "Is Torryl here?"

The woman shook her head, "No, he's at work. Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of his," Link said as convincingly as he could, "I was just passing through and I got thinking about how long it's been since I saw him."

The woman, probably Torryl's wife, said, "Why don't you come on in? You could wait here until he gets home. He'll be stopping by for lunch any minute."

"That'd be great," Link said, following as she beckoned him in. He shut the door behind him and let himself be led into an adjacent room. There were a few chairs scattered around a thin wooden table. A young boy sat in the corner, amusing himself with a toy.

The woman began to speak again as Link took a seat in one of the chairs. It groaned beneath his weight.

"That's Mathew," she said, gesturing with the jug toward the child, then back at herself, "and I'm Laura."

While the boy remained self-absorbed while Laura looked at Link with an expectant expression.

"I'm Aaron," he lied. As terrible as Torryl was for what he had done, the woman and child had not participated. They were completely innocent in all of this and he wasn't going to hurt them.

He didn't want her to spread his name around after her husband disappeared. Torryl and Aaron would go for a walk later, and neither would return. Link never wanted to come back to the town after this, not if he could help it.

"So how do you know Torryl?" she asked, curiosity written plainly across her face.

"I met him when I was a kid."

Laura looked at him for a moment, suddenly skeptical, "Interesting. How exactly did you meet? He has to be at least fifteen, maybe twenty, years older than you."

"Well, I didn't know him all that well. He was my best friend's older brother."

"He doesn't have any brothers."

Link forced out a laugh, feeling trapped under the woman's gaze. "I must've forgotten. It was a joke we used to have. My friend looked so much like Torryl that we used to say they were brothers."

"Ahh," she said, watching Link intently, "that makes sense."

A few seconds of silence permeated the air before she began to speak again. "How come…"

Before she could finish the sentence, they both heard the front door open and the sound of footsteps.

"Well," Laura said, looking back toward the first room, "Torryl's here."

The boy in the corner dropped his toy and leapt to his feet. Moving quickly, he ran toward the first room and was intercepted halfway there by a tall thin man with a short beard. The boy launched himself at the man, forcing Torryl to catch him in midair. Not only did he catch the child, Torryl lifted him up and spun him around once in the air.

Setting the boy down, Torryl straightened with a wheeze and looked toward his wife, an interested look on his face. He was obviously interested in the identity of the stranger in his house.

The boy scampered off into another part of his house, leaving his father breathing heavily despite the minimal amount of effort required to lift a six year old.

Suddenly returning, the boy lifted up a thin flat piece of wood to show his father something on it.

Too curious to resist, Link asked Laura about Torryl's heavy breathing.

"It's his heart," she said sadly looking at her husband who was taking great interest in what his son was showing him, "Difficult labor is just too much for him. Soon enough he won't be able to spin Mathew around like that without taking a breather afterward. He tries hard, though. Not his fault. His family was all blacksmiths, but that kind of work would kill him quicker than a hundred gallons of poison. He tries his hardest to provide though. Candles are the trade for him and he puts food on the table…"

She trailed off, wrapped up in the thought of her husband's problem. Suddenly she turned to Link and said, "I suppose he didn't tell you that… he doesn't let many people know about his condition…"

All at once the horrific truth became clear. All too clear. Link's head was pounding with the clarity, swimming in the sulfurous realization. There was no way this man could've hiked all the way to Eldwin's home in the woods, and done what Eldwin said he did. There was just no way a man this weak could manage that without dying.

But if this man hadn't done it, had Evan? Eldwin had said both of them, but this man obviously had no part in it. Maybe she was wrong about both of them?

Link's blood ran icily as he realized he may have killed an innocent man that morning. He had killed innocent people before, all of his life he had. However, Evan was different. Link had decided to release the Other on Evan. Link had murdered an innocent man.

He was a murderer, a coldblooded killer. He had just been about to kill another innocent man! The thought turned Link's stomach. If Eldwin had been wrong about Torryl, she could've been wrong about Evan.

But what about Rusl? What if it hadn't been him? What if she'd been wrong then too? He'd gone and killed a man! He'd killed a man who might've been innocent! No, Eldwin wouldn't tell him to kill an innocent man. But she hadn't told him to, he just had.

He thought he might be sick. He'd killed a man, two men, on purpose. He'd been about to kill another, one who was definitely innocent.

Suddenly Link's vision came back into focus and he saw Torryl and Laura staring at him. There was worry in their faces and Link realized that he must've been staring off into space.

They were worried about him, and he had been planning to murder one of them…

Link clutched his stomach, staggering forward toward the door. He tottered around Torryl and made his way toward the exit. His insides were churning, twisting and burning with revulsion.

"Are you okay Aaron?" Laura asked, concern filling her voice.

"I've got to go," Link choked out, heading for the door, "I've made a big mistake, a terrible mistake. I've… I've got to go."

Link thought he heard them say something else. He thought he felt a hand brush his shoulder but he darted forward away from them. He had to get out of here. He had to get out of the town, get away from everything. He'd killed two men on purpose, oh goddesses, innocent men!

Link felt his hand close around the doorknob and something seized him in turn.

* * *

The first sensation Link felt upon waking was an overwhelming coldness about him. He stirred slightly, pressing life into deadened muscles. Link tried to push himself up to his hands and knees but as he slipped in the attempt

Link went back down sprawling on the ground. He pulled one hand slowly up to his head, trying to quell the aching there. Link tried to get his footing again, and he managed to kick off of something soft and gain a standing position.

He was still pretty shaky, though. What had happened? There was something far away… about innocence. Innocent men… He'd killed innocent men.

That was the moment he registered the coppery smell of blood.

Link looked around, his eyes wide and horrified by what lay around him. Blood. Blood everywhere. All the furniture in the room had been torn to shreds. The more he looked the more he found. Among the nondescript piles of red, he managed to pick out shapes. There was one shape that stood out to him among all the others. It was slightly star-shaped… five points… no… five fingers…

He looked around, sickened by the things he saw. One hand… a pair of hands… five hands…

There were five hands that he could see.

Oh goddesses no…

One of the hands was gripping something, something thin and flat.

Link moved as if possessed, staggering toward the thing. It was a charcoal drawing… a mother and a father and a child between them. The hand that gripped it was very small.

The still quality of Link's horror was shattered in that moment. The hand was so small. What had he done!?

Link's knees buckled beneath him, throwing him to the floor. He half caught himself on his hands and found himself face to face with that single smaller hand.

He whimpered something out, and then felt his body _twist_ deep inside. His gut shrank and turned cold just a moment before the acid filled his throat. Link gagged as the vomit forced its way out. The bile splattered over the blood and Link just stared at it with wide eyes and a burning throat.

He felt numb all over, and then he screamed. It was a terrified, wordless cry. Like the guttural squawk of a dying animal.

Before he knew what he was doing, Link was throwing himself to his feet and racing toward the door. He blinked and he was at the door, struggling to turn the knob with both hands. He blinked and he was running out into the cold night air, sprinting in no direction at all.

No matter how hard he tried to escape, the tiny hand still followed him.


	15. Drowning the Fish

Link staggered through the dark city street. Shadows were long and deep, weakly combatted by the moonlight. His whole body was numb, moving mechanically as it carried him forward at a slow tottering pace. His mind was numb too, but in a different way. It was frozen, a pool of icy water with only one fish in it. Or maybe it was a thousand fish but they all looked the same.

The fish was a memory. The fish kept swimming in circles, breaking the surface occasionally. Link froze every time he caught sight of the fish, standing motionless in the empty street, a corpse in the darkness. The memory kept coming back to him, striking and lashing out at him like glass laden whip.

He'd killed people, murdered them in cold blood. He'd mutilated them, torn them apart. He'd killed a child. All of it without a reason. There was no justification at all. People dead because of a mistake, his mistake or Eldwin's mistake, it didn't matter. They were dead.

And he'd killed them.

The fish swam in circles inside of his mind, jagged little painful circles. His soul was throbbing.

Link moved like a zombie through the dead street. At some point his body had become too weak, his legs too far away to hold him up. Link stumbled then collapsed against a rough wall. Its surface was cold and jagged.

He slid along the wall, moving forward by the inch. Link was edging his way along the cold stone wall, moving with speed comparable to that of a mortally wounded animal. He very nearly crawled.

Several times his legs gave out beneath him, dropping his heavy body down to the dirt and flagstones. There he lay for indeterminable times, soaking in the night air and wishing that it would suck his life away. He had killed people, murdered them, he deserved to die.

But in the end he always got back up, climbing to his wretched feet with a sluggish determination. He wasn't sure what drove him on, but he needed to keep moving.

_Come home…_

The voice itched inside of his head. He could feel it worming its way through his mind, scratching up against the walls of his skull.

"No I…" he murmured, "I did…"

The only reason Link knew he spoke was because he heard the words in the air. They were far too close at hand to belong to another. However, they weren't nearly as close to him as the voice inside his head.

_Yes… back to me…_

"I'm a…" he didn't know what he was. He was something terrible, dark, and awful. It was deep inside of him and he was deep inside of it. Intertwined.

Suddenly the wall swung away and Link fell through the opening. The inside of this place was only slightly brighter than the cold, dark street. Smoke floated in the air making a blinding haze that hung at eye level. The air was full of noise too, thick and reverberating. Link could hardly hear himself think.

The voice still managed.

_Home…_

This place was full of people. They stood packed into the space and as Link fell he was sucked into the crowd. A sort of current pulled him along, eventually throwing him down into a barstool where he caught hold of the counter to steady himself.

Swaying lightly, Link collapsed against the bar. His head struck the edge of a pewter cup, nearly throwing it over the edge.

Just before it was too late, someone swooped in and caught the cup.

"Hey buddy," he said in an aggravated voice, "Think you had enough, why don't you… wait a minute…"

He leaned down and studied Link for a moment.

"I ain't served you nothing. Shit… you don't look so good…" The man grabbed the cup and poured something into it from a bottle. "Here, take some o' this, should help."

The man pushed the cup into Link's hand and he stared down at the liquid. The voice started to say something, but Link took a big swallow before it could finish. The stuff burned in his throat, but before long he could hear the voice getting smaller, fuzzier, and farther away.

The fish disappeared too, as Link drowned it beneath a lake of the burning stuff in the cup.

* * *

Ilia walked alone through the moonlit streets. Her light footsteps made a tapping sound against the flagstones as she headed home. The sound slipped off into the night, quickly becoming lost among the silhouetted buildings.

Aside from her own footsteps, the night was silent. It seemed that everyone was asleep. She didn't usually stay out this late, but time had gotten away from her. One minute she had been looking around the market place, talking to a friend, and before she knew it the sun had gone down.

Ilia pulled her arms together across her chest, rubbing the goose-bump covered skin below her shoulders. The air was chilly, and she reveled in the thought of getting back into the warmth of her home.

A sudden grunt drew her attention to the other side of the road. There was a shape there, one set in shadows and appearing shadowed itself. As she watched, the shape picked itself up from the ground and began to stumble forward. It moved sluggishly, staggering along, half leaning against the nearby wall.

Ilia found herself watching the figure as it edged along. The darkness rendered it into a rough silhouette, but as she watched the darkness began to peel away imperfectly. The outline became clearer and tiny details began to become apparent to Ilia as her night vision slowly manifested itself.

She found herself thinking of Link, how she'd seen him earlier that day. Ilia remembered calling out to him to no avail, since he appeared not to hear her. He quickly disappeared soon after, swept away by the crowd before she could get his attention.

Even as the memory spring to mind, Ilia recognized the shape. It was Link. He moved stiffly and sparsely like he was dying. His legs seemed heavy, and he dragged them along in his solemn march.

There was something wrong, something very wrong.

Ilia started to cross the road toward him, but his shadowed shape suddenly disappeared. She watched as a pair of swinging doors seemed to suck him into a building. Very little light showed through during the moment they remained open. A shapeless mass of smoke flooded out into the night through the swinging doors.

She stopped, staring at the still swinging doors and wondering where he had gone. That wasn't his house; he lived somewhere outside of the town. Where else would he go at this time of night?

Suddenly it struck her and she recognized the building, realizing what this particular stretch of road would look like in daylight. Link had just stepped into a bar.

This gave her a sort of prickly sour feeling. She was worried about him. He hadn't looked okay before, what with his stumbling and having fallen flat on his face at least once. Something was wrong with Link. Something was going on, but she didn't know what.

A big part of her said that she had to help him, but she didn't know how. What could she do? She didn't even know what was going on.

Finally she decided to at least wait around here for a little bit. When he came back out she could talk to him, see what was going on and help him out if she could.

Thus determined, Ilia took up a place opposite the bar, leaning up against the wall and waiting. The seconds passed like minutes and the minutes felt like hours as she stood there waiting for Link to reappear. She crossed her arms over her chest once more and did her best to keep warm. After a while her body became accustomed to the night air, she stopped shivering. She didn't feel warm, just not cold. Like an in between, but…

Link stumbled out of the bar, appearing even more haggard than before. His slow, lurching step had been replaced by a stumbling march that had him tripping and barely catching himself half a dozen times before he had gone more than ten feet from the entrance.

Ilia approached him, moving quickly so as to catch up with him before he fell again. When she was just a few feet away, he stumbled and nearly lost his balance, but managed to keep his footing.

She had been about to dart out and try to catch him, but she stopped when he took care of it himself. Something else gave her pause as well. By the light of the moon she could see something dark coating his hands. She noted the frayed texture it appeared to have.

It made her think of a scab.

But why would his hands be caked in dried blood. Surely they weren't, but what else looked like that?

It was only a moment of pause before Ilia moved past his apparently blood soaked hands. She stepped up beside him and said his name. Link barely responded to the word, turning his head slightly toward her and staring with bloodshot eyes.

His breath smelled acridly sour.

"Link, are you okay?" she asked tentatively.

He coughed and the force of it seemed almost enough to buckle his knees. After catching himself again against the wall, Link started to mutter.

"It's all… fault… can't… I don't… why…" he said all this quickly, his words trailing off and running together in turns. Some of the words he spat while others were whispers.

"Link, I can't understand you," Ilia said, "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" he growled softly, "She's out there… he hurt, I hurt, she hurt… that's… it's not, a different place… they… no… it's…"

Ilia put a hand up on his shoulder and stopped him. Or rather, she tried to stop him. Link kept moving ahead sluggishly despite her efforts. He was earnestly plodding somewhere, towards something.

"Where are you going? Are you going to be okay?" Ilia asked, the worry audible in her voice.

"I'm not… I'm going, I did…. Goddesses, she… wi… ahlrin… sor…" his words were becoming jumbled and weaker. They slurred together, and sometimes he stopped halfway through a word, continuing again with a different syllable from a different word.

Ilia could hardly understand any of it, but all of a sudden she realized where his destination was. Link was making a beeline for the woods, stumbling down the road at the pace of a drunken snail.

"Can you make it all the way out there?" Ilia asked, still not giving up on the hope of him responding with a full sentence or at least real words.

"I… I need… I'm going to…" he murmured, and then suddenly he froze in his footsteps.

Link's hands flew up, tightening on his stomach while he made a pained face. Link growled suddenly, as if his innards were tearing him apart, then he gagged and dropped to his knees. Suddenly vomit was coming out in a noxious wave.

While the stuff lay cooling on the ground, Link swayed slowly while moaning.

For a moment he seemed lucidly, speaking a full thought even if it was a short one.

"I'm sorry," Link said, sounding as if he was talking to someone else far away.

As suddenly as he had gained consciousness, Link lost it. His whole body went limp and it was only Ilia's quick reflexes that kept him from falling straight into the puddle of puke. She darted forward and caught him by the shoulders, just as she realized he was going down.

And so she stood there, grasping Link by the shoulders and holding him up above the pool of acrid spew. Ilia was surprised that he wasn't heavier, since she had very little trouble holding him up. After a few seconds she pulled him away from the ground and to his feet.

Surprisingly, it wasn't very difficult.

Now he was standing nearly to his full height. One of his arms was dangling down her back while she held him up with an arm around him. She reached under his shoulders and grasped a section of his shirt. That way she was able to hold on and keep him upright.

"Where do you… uh, live?" Ilia asked, a little strain in her voice.

Silence.

"Can you hear me? Where is your house? How can I get you there?" she asked desperately.

More silence.

Ilia sighed and looked up at the moon. Who knew how late it was by now. It had been dark for hours, and that was a feat by the standard of summer days. It had to be close to midnight…

"Still not awake?" Ilia pleaded, looking over at him to check. He wasn't.

"Okay, I guess I'll have to take you back to my house. At least until you…" Ilia sighed again, realizing that she was talking to an unconscious body.

Ilia took a step and managed to half drag half shuffle Link along with her. It was very slow going, but before long they were approaching her house. Luckily, she had been very near to home when she spotted Link.

Ilia brought him up to the wooden door and fumbled with her key for a few moments. Eventually she got it open and she pulled him inside. It was a small house where she lived by herself, and that was a good thing because she made a lot of noise getting Link through the small darkened kitchen

It wasn't until she'd successfully navigated the room that she realized her true dilemma. It was a small house where she lived by herself, and thus there was only one bed. What was she going to do with Link? She wouldn't feel right just throwing him on the floor.

After decent amount of internal debate on the subject, Ilia made a decision. Going up to the bed, she pushed Link into one side while she went around to the other and crawled in. It was a wider bed than any one person needed, so there was a decent amount of space between them if she stayed close to the edge.

Then, suddenly, while Ilia was lying in the dark, trying to fall asleep despite the sound of the second person's breathing and the extra heat in the bed, Link spoke.

His words were still a little slurred, and Ilia was sure that he hadn't actually woken up to say them. They were just subconscious words, sleep talking.

"It's warm… thank you, el..." he murmured, the words distorted by many factors.

Then, after a long paused he finished, "I… love you…"

Ilia froze as the murmured words reached her ears. Had she heard him right? He'd just said that he loved her. He was asleep, but that's what he said. Goddesses, did he? Was it an accident? But he'd also said thank you, and he'd started to say her name. Yes… yes! He had been talking to her.

Oh goddesses, he'd been talking to her. Did she feel the same? Ilia didn't know, wasn't sure. But how could she be sure? Wasn't it supposed to be one of those things that is completely uncertain until you _know_. Did she know? Now? How could she know? Did she love him?

It was a long time before Ilia fell asleep. Her mind was a whirlwind, playing back and analyzing those few seconds of speech. She couldn't stop thinking about it. Her mind was racing but it was still so quiet, she could hear his slow unconscious breathing right there behind her. He was right there.

Oh goddesses he'd said it to her. He was asleep, but he'd still said it. He'd said it to her!

But… did she love him back?

He was right there behind her, sleeping, breathing, and dreaming in the bed so nearby. If she wanted she could reach out and touch him. He was…

No, she had to think. She had to figure this out.

Did she…?


	16. Pain in the Skull

Link's head was full of boiling water.

It was on fire, or it was in a clamp. It was being stepped on and was just a moment away from bursting. Link had no room for conscious thought; the pain was just too much. It was all in his skull, but he couldn't even feel the rest of his body.

He jerked upward and stared around. He had no clue where he was. He had no clue of anything. It was all strange, unknown and unnerving. He wanted to wonder where he was, what was happening, but the pain drove everything else out.

_What have you done!?_

The voice came as a shout, a scream, a screech. It tore at his brain, crashed down like a sledgehammer. He could feel it reverberating around his skull. It burned, fire inside of his head coming in bursts with each syllable. The sudden explosion found him clenching his jaw painfully and holding his head, pressing down on either side.

_Where are you!?_

It came again and it shot through his body, echoing from his ears to his stomach and out. He spasmed and slipped off the edge. Link landed flat on his face cried out as the jarring impact rattled his aching head. He couldn't feel anything but the explosive, throbbing pain. He couldn't hear anything except for the tidal wave of sound inside of his head.

_Who is she!? I'll…_

The voice broke off then screamed in agony, or maybe it was rage. Link couldn't see straight, it was all crooked and bent. Nothing was quite fitting together, not sounds, not sight, not himself. His body didn't work right. He was flopping around on the ground, trying but narrowly failing to get to his feet. Every time he almost managed, another round of pain or screams wracked his mind and threw him down again.

Finally, he found the strength to climb shakily up the wall. He was leaning against it hard since his legs were wobbly and far too weak to support him on their own. Link tried to focus but he couldn't manage to think of anything. It was all blurry and frayed, scattered in lieu of the massive shaking panic and the red hot pain. They swirled together, stabbing into him and taking root.

_How could you do this!?_

It sent a shockwave through Link, buckling his knees. He staggered forward and fell halfway across something. It was soft and he managed to take hold of it and balance himself. What was going on, where was he? Everything seemed to buzz and burn around him as Link staggered toward some kind of panic fueled escape.

* * *

The bed began to shake wildly, and that's what brought Ilia out of her sleep. She sat up and yawned, looking around. She managed to turn just in time to watch Link fall off the edge of the bed. She might've laughed if she hadn't caught a glimpse of his face just before he disappeared over the lip.

It had been screwed up into a scowl, his teeth gritted together and his eyes nearly shut all the way. It almost seemed as if he was in some kind of pain.

Ilia jumped out of the bed and ran around to the other side, feeling panic well up in her chest.

"Are you okay?" she asked, approaching him slowly. He was trying to stand up without much success. Now he was trying to inch his way up the wall, reminiscent of his drunken stagger the night before. Suddenly he collapsed forward and halfway onto the bed.

"Let me help you. What's wrong?" Ilia said, leaning in and taking one of his hands. However, before she could even start to help him up, Link's hand writhed as he recoiled from her. He fell back to the ground, one hand fervently grasping his the side of his head. He was groaning and staring around wildly.

Suddenly, it seemed that his body worked again, because Link shot to his feet in one jerky movement. He headed for the door, not even seeming to see her.

Before she could even react, Link was out of the room and out of her sight. She ran after him and caught him heading for the front door.

"Link! Where are you going?" she cried out. He just kept walking, that slow jerky step. He didn't even seem to notice her.

Suddenly desperate, Ilia grabbed one of his shoulders and pulled him around toward her. He winced and grimaced.

Ilia stood there, looking into his eyes.

"Link, I thought about it… about what you said. I was thinking all night and I know." Her hands were almost shaking now. He had to hear her say this, she had to say this. If he would react to nothing else, he would react to this.

"Link," she began again, her voice a little weak. She'd never done this before.

"I… I love you."

Ilia watched him, staring into his eyes with patient expectation.

Link, having the looking of a half-crazed animal on his face, turned toward the door and ran out into the morning light.

* * *

Link ran through the woods, moving unsurely. He half stumbled as he ran, swatting haphazardly at the low hanging branches that kept scratching and hitting him. His head felt like it was about to burst, and he couldn't quite make any complete thoughts.

All he knew was the painful screeching of the voice and the fact that he had to get home. He'd woken up in some strange place and he had to get home. He couldn't remember anything else. It was all driven out by the pain.

He kept running until he suddenly found himself at the house. The door was shut solidly and he had to fight it a little to get it open. Going inside, Link noticed the utter silence. It seemed as if he were the only living thing here. He could almost hear his heartbeat in the stillness.

Link began to explore the house, looking for Eldwin. Where was she? Had she left the house? Had she left…?

"What are you doing here?" a voice asked coldly, interrupting his thoughts.

Link spun around and found himself face to face with Eldwin. She was just outside the doorway, both her hands clenched into fists.

"Eldwin, I…" Link began, but she cut him off.

"What are _you_ doing here!?" she screamed. Suddenly she stooped down and picked something up. With an angry snarl on her face, she threw it forcefully at him. Link managed to duck out of the way just as the fist-sized rock crashed into the wall behind him.

Panic shot through him. His head was suddenly clear of the pain, but white hot panic replaced it.

Link wasn't able to move fast enough to dodge the second rock. It thudded painfully against his chest and he could feel the impact even after it dropped down and clattered off the floor below. The pain left behind by the rock was immense, and he was having trouble breathing. He clutched at his chest with one hand and watched Eldwin warily.

She was inside now, moving toward him. Her steps were uneven and she kept hate-filled eyes trained on him. She stopped then. Link could almost see her shaking with anger. She stared straight at him and growled out, "Leave! Go! Get out of here, you bastard!"

Link started to walk toward the door, still watching her from the corner of his eye. Once at the doorway, he started to pause but she said, "Just go, before I…"

He left then, walking away into the forest and away from the house. He wasn't sure where he was going, or where he could go. He just kept walking, and eventually he found his way back to the town.

* * *

Ilia sat at the small table in her kitchen. She was leaning all the way back into her chair and staring blankly at the opposite wall. Inside her head there was a storm of thoughts and emotions.

"How could I be so stupid?" she nearly sobbed. Ilia leaned forward, resting her chin in her hands and her elbows on the table's cold flat wooden surface. She couldn't stop thinking about the chaotic mess of a morning. He'd just left. He hadn't even said anything to her. Link hadn't even acknowledged her existence.

That was so unlike him, but how did she know. She hardly even knew him. They'd only talked a few times but…

She'd thought she knew him. He'd been a hero, but maybe she'd been wrong about him. Maybe he…

"Hi… Ilia," a voice said from behind her. It was quiet and a little shy-sounding.

She didn't get up from the chair, just turned around slowly. There was Link, standing in the doorway. She hadn't heard him open it, because he hadn't. She realized she'd just left it open after he left. Ilia didn't say anything, she just watched him. She was half afraid that any words would come out choked.

"Can I come in?"

She nodded then, just as he crossed the threshold, made herself ask, "Why? Why did you just leave?" It did sound choked, though not as much as she'd feared it would.

His lips moved slowly for a moment, as if he was looking for the right words.

"I don't know," he said, sounding apologetic, "There was just something wrong with my head. I didn't know what I was doing… I didn't even know where I was."

Looking up into his eyes, she realized he was telling the truth. She could see something there, something deeply trustworthy. That was when she realized how much she trusted him, though it wasn't just because of the look in his eyes.

"Are you… okay now?" she asked slowly.

Link nodded, "I came back here once my head cleared out. I can almost remember last night. Thank you."

There it was again, the deep sincerity in his eyes and the tone of his voice.

Ilia got up slowly from the chair and walked over to him. Ilia wasn't quite sure what she was going to do until she'd already approached Link and kissed him.

There had to be something magical about him.

The kiss ended and she was left staring up at him. Suddenly she took his hand and said, "Come on, I want to show you something."

She led him out the door, making sure to shut the door behind them.

The sun was shining as they walked away together.


	17. Sunny Day with a Shadow

Link walked with Ilia, hand in hand, through the streets of the town. Her skin was soft against his, and warm. Though the sun was shining, the air hadn't totally warmed up yet. There was still a slight chill from the night before. The air was brisk, and Link felt good. His head felt clear and he was almost energetic.

He smiled, looking over at Ilia in the corner of his eye. She was smiling too. Her eyes were bright, almost glowing, as she looked ahead. She was leading him through the sparse morning crowds.

There were voices in the air; buzzing right on the edge of Link's hearing. He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but the white noise provided a calming backdrop. It was a distant, half-forgotten backdrop, because he found his attention being focused on the girl beside him.

"So where are we going?" Link asked, his smile somehow finding its way into the tone of his voice.

Ilia seemed to pause in thought for a moment, before saying just as cheerily, "It's a secret. Just someplace I wanted to show you."

"Are you gonna give me a hint?" Link pleaded.

"No need," Ilia chuckled, "We've just arrived."

With a delighted flourish, Ilia directed Link's attention toward a nearby building. The most apparent thing was a large set of double doors constructed from a lattice of wooden strips. The next thing that Link noticed was the large wooden sign above that.

The sign proclaimed, in large red block letters: "_MARCIA'S GENERAL STORE_".

Link stared up at the sign for a moment, confused, before looking back toward Ilia.

"This is where I work," she said, her excitement slightly more subdued now, "Well, not today. It's my day off."

She laughed a little weakly then, adding, "Not very exciting, now that we're actually here… Well, do you want to go do something or... I don't know."

"Link shrugged and said, "I don't know, why don't we just walk around? Maybe we'll think of something."

Ilia decided that it was a good idea, and they walked away from Marcia's General Store. However, they hadn't gone ten feet before a voice called Ilia's name from behind. They turned around to see a man walking toward them.

At the sight of him, Link felt Ilia's hand, which was still clasped in his, tighten slightly. As the man approached, Link noticed that he seemed to be eyeing Link up and down. Their eyes met for a moment before he turned toward Ilia.

"Hi, Ilia," he said.

"Hi, Dad," she responded, smiling.

"I didn't expect to see you down here on your day off. Who's your friend?"

"This is Link," she said, gesturing to him with her free hand.

"Hello," Link said.

Ilia's father glanced down at their hands for a moment and said, "How long have you… known Link?"

"For a while now. A couple months, I think," Ilia said nervously.

"Have you been hiding him from us? Your mother and I would love to meet him. Get to know him, maybe over dinner? What do you say?" he said, looking over at Link now.

Lin felt uncomfortable under the man's gaze and ended up agreeing.

"Sounds great," he said, "We'll be waiting for you tonight."

With that said, Ilia's father walked past them and quickly disappeared down the street.

Link looked over at Ilia who was staring off into the distance. As he watched, Ilia's lips moved slightly then her head snapped over into his direction. She looked him up and down in one fluid motion and said suddenly in a more than slightly panicked voice, "Do you have any other clothes?"

"No," Link responded, "but what's wrong with…"

He looked down at the clothes he was wearing and suddenly remembered. He hadn't done anything about his clothes since the day before when he had brutally murdered three people with his hands. Link began to feel sick again as he thought about it. About how he had woken up in a gory room, smelling blood, with blood on his hands and soaked into his clothes.

That same blood was still soaked into his clothes. It had turned a brownish color in drying and, luckily, looked quite similar to mud. However, that still left him with the problem of having clothes that appeared to have been soaked in mud.

Link started to shake his head and Ilia immediately started off back the way they had come. Before long they were walking up to her house. Ilia let go of his hand and ran up to the door, unlocking it before disappearing inside.

She returned in just a minute, holding a small pouch in her hands. She snapped it closed and Link heard it jingle slightly. Ilia took Link's hand in her own and they began to walk away.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"To the market," Ilia replied simply, "I'm going to buy you some clothes."

The words took a moment to sink in and Link reacted immediately.

"What! No, I don't want you to spend any of your money on me," Link exclaimed.

"I insist," Ilia replied solidly, "You're having dinner with my parents tonight. You need something to wear."

Link would have continued to argue but he couldn't think of any way. He couldn't wear his bloody clothes, and he didn't have any other clothes. This was the only option, as much as it irked him.

As they walked, something caught Link's eye. Out of the featureless crowd of unidentifiable people, one shape stood out to him. She was wearing all black, but somehow Link managed to recognize her despite the hood that hung low over her face.

She was just standing there by a shop, watching him. She was motionless except for the slight shifting of the hood that gave away the subtle craning of her neck. Link and Ilia were walking up the street toward her, and he could see her watching him from afar.

It seemed as if they made eye contact for a moment, then she began approaching. She moved effortlessly through the crowd, as if they were repelled by her nefarious presence and felt wary of touching her. She kept staring at Link as she moved closer, and Link could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising slowly.

He would have turned to run or found some other method of escape had Ilia not directed him down an adjacent street. The buzzing of the crowd seemed both deafening and miles away for the next few moments. Link simply walked as Ilia's hand directed him, for he was as removed as the maelstrom of voices.

What was _she_ doing here? After all these years, why had she come back?

Why now?


	18. Son

It seems like so long ago…

Link lay in bed, mostly still, save for the intermittent bursts of soft sobbing that shook his body. It was dark in his room, but he could still see the faintest light floating in the crack beneath his door. Whenever he looked that way, it only served to remind him of his father.

Thinking about his father inevitably led Link to the scores of bruises that mottled his skin.

Link could hear his father every so often. It was a small house, so the sounds of footsteps and movement could never be kept private. Link could hear his father get up from his chair every so often, or he could hear him opening a cabinet to get down a bottle of scotch or brandy or whatever alcohol he preferred tonight.

Thinking about the alcohol, Link hugged himself a little. The movement drew a sickly pain from the bruises on his arms and chest. The bruises, the alcohol, and the sounds of his father moving about in the other room, they always drew Link back to this.

He was alone here, alone with his father. It wasn't this bad before, it had never been this bad. The bruises never healed, they just kept growing and multiplying. He couldn't go on like this; it was a nightmare.

Link wished he could just die like his mother. He would be free then. No more fear of his father. No more pain or bruises or lying awake at night listening to the man moving around and breathing deep sighs of relief because he was safe for a few hours. No more of that, no more of anything.

No more pain.

A thought came into his mind, entering gingerly, as if it were afraid to exist.

What if his dad died? Link would be free, completely free from the pain and the fear and the bruises. Link almost couldn't imagine a life where his arms weren't covered in bruises.

But, Link thought sadly, it would never happen. His father was going to live forever just so he could hurt Link. He would never go away and he would never disappear. No matter how long Link spent asleep, or just lying in the dark, the morning would come and with it, his father.

"Well, that's a morbid thought," a foreign voice purred.

Link's eyes snapped open and he turned his head slowly. He could've sworn he'd heard a voice, speaking from somewhere in his room. Link found himself staring out into the darkness of his room, searching it intently for the source of the voice. He knew it wasn't real. He was alone in here. There couldn't be anyone here with him, not really.

Then he saw the dark shape standing out amidst the darkness. As Link's eyes focused on the shape and his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he began to understand the shape.

It seemed to be a woman, and she was wearing all black. Link looked at her and realized that where her face should have been, there was only darkness. This terrified him for a moment before he realized she was wearing a hood low over her face.

She was standing in the corner of the room, facing him.

"Who are you?" Link asked softly, pulling his blanket back slowly. His feet were just about to touch the floor when she spoke again.

"Don't come near. I don't want you to see me." She paused for a moment "It doesn't matter who I am, only that I have come to help you."

Her voice was soft, and Link could almost imagine what she looked like. She must have been beautiful, strikingly, enchantingly beautiful.

Link looked between her and the door for a moment.

"What do you mean you can help me?" he whispered.

"I can free you from your father. I know what he has done to you, and I can put an end to it."

Link stared up at her, wonder in his eyes.

"You… you can?" he almost sobbed out.

"Yes, but you have to trust me. I must warn you, it won't be a peaceful escape or a peaceful freedom, but if you accept, your father will never hurt you again. You will be free from his cruelty and his mistreatment. Will you accept?"

Link looked back and forth between her and the door for a moment. He could still hear his father out there. He'd just sat down, a newly filled glass probably in his hand.

Link looked back toward the woman in the shadows and nodded.

"Yes, please…"

Link saw her nod and she began to turn around. Before Link could say anything, she was walking away from him. It seemed almost as if she melted into the shadows. The woman was gone within a moment, leaving Link alone in the darkness of his bedroom.

Link was about to call out to her, because she surely hadn't just walked away into the shadow as it had seemed. She must still be here. Anyway, she hadn't done anything. Link was still here, and his father was still there in the other room.

A pressure began to build in Link's chest. He could feel it begin as a tiny knot, and then continue to grow by the moment.

Something came across Link and he stumbled out of his bed. His feet struck the floor soundlessly and he tottered around for a moment before dropping first to his knees then his hands. He stayed there, feeling something growing and twisting inside of him.

Link was scared, scared of the _thing_ inside of him and scared of his father in the other room. What would happen if he made a noise and his father discovered that Link was still awake? What would happen…?

His thoughts suddenly flared up, turning from fear to anger, then from anger to hatred. Link hated his father for what he had done to him and for what he had done to his mother. Link hated his father for the continual hurt and fear he had caused every day of Link's life.

It was consuming him, growing at a rate comparable to the knot.

Link tried to climb to his feet. His whole body felt far away, somehow wooden. He rose halfway before losing his balance and falling heavily against the wall. There was a loud thump as he struck it and Link heard his father growl and curse through the wall.

His father was moving now and Link was staring at the door. Each footstep resonated in Link's ears and each resonation was like a hot nail being driven into his brain.

They were coming closer and Link couldn't take his eyes off the door.

Suddenly, it was flung open with a strength forged from a mixture of rage and alcohol.

"I thought I told you…!" Link father roared.

The thing that had been building up inside Link found a way out. The hate and the fear and the anger all came together in a seething ball and ignited. Link let it all go and he felt himself slip away. It was all gone from the moment his father opened the door. He dimly heard something roar back at his father.

And in the distance, Link heard the beautiful woman's voice again.

"Debt for debt, blood for blood. Child, you are mine."

It seems like so long ago…

* * *

The mystery grows and grows...

Five chapters left...


End file.
